Chapter 9 -- Administering Shared Folders

Chapter 9

About This Chapter

In Chapter 8, "Securing Resources with NTFS Permissions," you learned about NT file system (NTFS) permissions for Microsoft Windows XP Professional. You use NTFS permissions to specify which users and groups can access files and folders and what these permissions allow users to do with the contents of the file or folder. NTFS permissions are available only on NTFS volumes. NTFS security is effective whether a user gains access to the file or folder at the local computer or over the network.

In this chapter, you will learn how to make folders accessible over the network. You can access a computer's folders and their contents only by physically sitting at the computer and logging on to it or by accessing a shared folder on a remote computer. Sharing folders is the only way to make folders and their contents available over the network. Shared folders also provide another way to secure file resources, one that can be used on file allocation table (FAT) or FAT32 partitions. In this chapter, you will also learn how to share file resources, secure them with permissions, and provide access to them.

Before You Begin

To complete this chapter, you must have

• A computer that meets the minimum hardware requirements listed in the preface, About This Book
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional installed on the computer