Shared FoldersTasks | Windows Server 2003 in a Nutshell

Shared Folders Tasks

To share a folder, you first create the folder and then share it. Afterward, you can modify the shared folder by changing the permissions assigned to it or by changing the name under which it is shared, change the caching setting for offline use, share the folder under additional names , or stop sharing it. You can create and manage shared folders in two different ways in WS2003.

By accessing folder properties from the desktop or using Windows Explorer. This method is analogous to how one worked with shared folders in NT 4.0.
By using Shared Folders in Computer Management. This method is analogous to using the NT administrative tool, Server Manager, but is easier and more powerful.

The advantages of using the latter method are:

You can connect to remote machines and share folders without having to know the absolute path to the folder on the machine's drive.
You can view hidden and administrative shares that aren't visible in My Computer, My Network Places, or Windows Explorer.
You are presented with a uniform view of all shares on a machine in a single window.
You can view session information, open files for users connected to shared folders, send messages to those users, and disconnect all or selected sessions and open files.
You can create custom consoles using the Shared Folders snap-in to allow users to manage shared folders on a specific machine.

Let's look at each method in detail.

Share a Folder Using Windows Explorer

Select the folder using Windows Explorer and:

Right-click on folder Properties Sharing Share this folder

Share name (required): This is the name by which the shared folder will be visible on the network, and it doesn't need to be the same as the folder's name itself. The maximum length for a share name is 80 characters .
User limit: The number of concurrent client connections possible to the shared folder depends on the number of client access licenses (CALs) you have purchased.
Permissions: The default permission assigned to a newly created shared folder is Full Control for Everyone. If you add an ordinary user to the access list for a shared folder, the default permission assigned to the user is Read. See Permissions earlier in this chapter for information on shared-folder permissions.
Offline Settings: Discussed later in this section.
New Share: You can share the folder under additional share names. For example, C:\Public could be shared first using the default share name Public and then shared a second time using the share name Pub . Note that this option is available only after you have shared the folder for the first time. Each time you share a folder, you can assign different permissions and connection limits to the new share.

To modify an existing shared folder:

Right-click on folder Properties Sharing

Then make changes to the folder's permissions, change the share name, change the caching settings for offline access, reshare the folder under additional names, or stop sharing the folder as desired.

Share a Folder Using Computer Management

To share a folder on the local machine using Computer Management, use the Share a Folder Wizard:

Computer Management System Tools Shared Folders right-click on Shares New File Share specify path to folder specify share name configure offline settings if desired specify shared-folder permissions

Here are the four different options for assigning permissions using the wizard:

All users have read-only access: Allow Read is assigned to Everyone.
Administrators have full access; other users have read-only access: Allow Full Control is assigned to Administrators.

Allow Read is assigned to Everyone.

Administrators have full access; other users have read and write access: Allow Full Control is assigned to Administrators.

Allow Change is assigned to Everyone.

Use custom share and folder permissions: Click the Customize button and assign the permissions you want.

To share a folder on a remote machine using Computer Management, do this:

Computer Management Action Connect to another computer select computer System Tools Shared Folders right-click on Shares New File Share

Note that you must be a member of either the Administrators, Server Operators, or Power Users group to be able to create or modify shared folders.

Publish a Shared Folder in Active Directory

Publishing shared folders in Active Directory makes it easier for users to locate shared resources on the network. You should share the folder first before you publish it. To publish a shared folder in Active Directory, open the Active Directory Users and Computers console and:

Right-click on a domain New Shared Folder specify name specify UNC path to shared folder

You can also publish shared folders to an OU within a domain instead of to the domain itself. For example, you can create an OU called Shares to contain all published shared folders in a domain.

Enable Offline Files on Client

Windows Explorer Tools Folder Options Offline Files Enable Offline Files

Once this feature is enabled on the client, you need to configure offline files on the server.

Enable Offline Files on Server

Offline files are enabled on all shared folders by default and can be enabled or disabled on a per-shared folder basis. To enable or disable offline files for a shared folder:

Right-click on shared folder in Windows Explorer Sharing Offline Settings

You can either make all files in the share available offline, let the user specify which files in the share will be made available offline, or disable offline files for the share.

Configure Offline Files on Client

Windows Explorer Tools Folder Options Offline Files configure synchronization create shortcut on desktop encrypt offline files for greater security specify disk space reserved for offline files view or delete files

If you choose to synchronize all offline files before logging off, you must schedule Synchronization Manager to synchronize offline files automatically when you log off. Enabling reminders and specifying a time interval for these will cause a Help balloon to appear over the system tray (bottom-right corner of desktop) when the network connection becomes unavailable.

WS2003 clients automatically utilize 10% of their available disk space for locally caching offline files. If this is not enough, you can change the value here. Clicking View Files opens a window that displays which files have been locally cached. (You can also put a shortcut on your desktop to the Offline Files folder, which is located within the user's profile in the Documents and Settings folder.) Clicking Delete Files will let you delete your cached files but has no effect on copies stored on network file servers.

The Advanced button gives you more granular control of caching when you are accessing files on multiple file servers on the network. You can specify a list of file servers whose files are never cached locally or allow files from any file server to be cached (the default).

Configure Offline Files on Server

Right-click shared folder in Windows Explorer Sharing Offline Settings configure settings

For more information, see Offline Files under Shared FoldersConcepts .

Make a File or Folder Available Offline

Right-click on the remote file, shared folder, or mapped network drive in Windows Explorer Make Available Offline

This starts the Offline Files Wizard, which lets you choose whether to:

Automatically synchronize the file, folder, or network drive when you log off or on to your client computer
Cause Help balloons to appear over the system tray to let you know when your network connection becomes unavailable
Create a shortcut to your Offline Files folder on your desktop

When you make a file, folder, or network drive available for offline use, its icon displays a two-way arrow indicating that it will be synchronized. Marking a network drive or shared folder for offline use marks all of its subfolders and files for offline use as well. In addition, any new folders or files you create within it are marked for offline use. Using the Offline Files Wizard, you configure these three settings globally for all offline files, folders, and drives by using the properties sheet opened by Windows Explorer Tools Folder Options Offline Files. If you didn't select any of these options on the property sheet but select them all in the wizard, the last two will automatically be selected on the properties sheet.

Synchronize Offline Files

If a file has been made available offline, then you can manually force the cached local copy of the file to synchronize with the network copy of the file by:

Right-click on file or folder Synchronize

You can synchronize all or selected offline files by opening Windows Explorer and:

Tools Synchronize select/deselect shares to synchronize Synchronize

This opens Items to Synchronize, and by clicking Setup you can control synchronization by:

Configuring how synchronization occurs on different network connections. This is useful if your computer is a portable and is used on multiple LAN or WAN connections.
Toggling whether the user should be prompted before synchronizing files.
Specifying which offline files should be synchronized after events like:
User logs on or off from network
System idle for a period of time
System running on battery power

In addition, Scheduled Add starts the Scheduled Synchronization Wizard, which lets you create synchronization tasks to schedule when and how often different offline files should automatically be synchronized. (You can even cause your system to automatically dial a WAN connection if it is offline at the scheduled time.) Once a synchronization task has been created, you can further edit it to specify what to do if the task runs for an excessive period of time, how it should behave under different power-management conditions, and so on.

When a file with different modified versions on the client computer and network file server is synchronized, a Resolve File Conflicts dialog box appears, asking you whether you want to:

Keep both versions (the local one is renamed and saved on the file server)
Replace the remote version with the local one
Discard the local one

You can open both versions of the file for viewing to help you make your decision. You can also make your choice the default for all conflicts with offline files.

Working with Offline Files

When you are working offline (for example, when the network connection to a file server on which you have enabled offline files has gone down), you can have a computer icon appear in the system tray and a Help balloon message notify you (see Configure Offline Files on Server earlier in this section). This system-tray icon is helpful since you can right-click on it to check the status of your connection to the file server and attempt to force synchronization. When the connection is restored, you can go back to the online version of the file by double-clicking the system-tray icon and clicking OK. When files are offline, you can work with them and save changes. When your network connection is restored and you log off, these changes will be synchronized with the server.

Enable Shadow Copies

Shadow copies must be enabled before they can be used. To enable shadow copies on your server, do the following:

Computer Management System Tools right-click on Shared Folders All Tasks Configure Shadow Copies select the volume where the shadow copies will be stored Enable

You can also do it this way:

Windows Explorer right-click on any fixed volume Properties Shadow Copies select the volume where the shadow copies will be stored Enable

Configure Settings for Shadow Copies

Computer Management System Tools right-click on Shared Folders All Tasks Configure Shadow Copies select the volume where the shadow copies will be stored Settings specify storage area specify maximum size specify schedule

Install Shadow Copy Client Software

To view shadow copies you must first install appropriate client software for your version of Windows. First, you need to share the client files on a WS2003 machine:

Windows Explorer right-click on \\System32\clients\twclient Sharing and Security Share this folder

Now the client can connect and install the software:

Start Run \\ fileserver \Windows\system32\clients\twclient\x86\twcli32.msi OK

This installs the Previous Version Client on your machine, and you can now work with shadow copies on the file server.

View a Previous Version of a File

Windows Explorer right-click on file Properties Previous Versions select a previous version of the file View

If no previous versions are displayed, the file has not changed since the oldest copy was taken.

Copy a Previous Version of a File

Windows Explorer right-click on file Properties Previous Versions select a previous version of the file Copy specify destination

You can use this to recover a file that was accidentally deleted.

Restore a Previous Version of a File

Windows Explorer right-click on file Properties Previous Versions select a previous version of the file Restore

This deletes the current version of the file!