Who s on First

Who's on First

When you troubleshoot a networking problem, it's often useful to find out who is logged on to a network server. For example, if a user cannot access a file on the server, you can check to see whether he is logged on. If so, you know that the user's account is valid, although he may not have permission to access the particular file or folder he wants. On the other hand, if the user isn't logged on, the problem may lie in the account itself or in the way the user is attempting to connect to the server.

Another useful technique is to find out who's logged on if you need to restart the server. For more information about restarting a server, see the section, "How to Restart a Network Server," later in this chapter.

Tip 

To find out who is logged on to a Windows Server 2003 server, follow these steps:

1. Open the Computer Management window by choosing Start Administrative Tools Computer Management.

2. Open System Tools in the tree list, open Shared Folders, and select Sessions.

   A list of users who are logged on appears.

   You can select Open Files to find out which files are being used by network users.