Turning Off Shared Access

Administrators may need to restrict access to printers, drives, and folders that are shared by a computer running Windows XP Professional. For example, a user may no longer wish to share his or her printer. Administrators can use the following procedure to terminate shared access to printers, drives, and folders on computers running Windows XP Professional.

Terminating Printer Sharing

The following procedure outlines the steps required to stop the sharing of a locally installed printer.

1. Click on Start and then Control Panel. The Windows XP Control Panel appears.

2. Click on Printers and Other Hardware. The Printers and Other Hardware dialog appears.

3. Click on Printers and Faxes. The Printers and Faxes folder appears.

4. Right-click on a printer that is shared and select Sharing.

5. The printer's property dialog appears. The Sharing property sheet is automatically displayed.

6. Select Do not share this printer.

7. Click on OK.

Terminating Drive and Folder Sharing

The following procedure outlines the steps required to stop the sharing of a local drive or folder.

1. Click on Start and then My Computer. The My Computer folder opens.

2. Right-click on the shared drive or drill down as necessary to locate a shared folder, right-click on it, and select Sharing and Security.

3. Clear the Share this Folder on the network option.

4. Click on OK.