Networking For Dummies
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When you first create a file share on your network, all users are granted read-only access to the share. If you want to allow users to modify files in the share or allow them to create new files, you need to add permissions. Here’s how to do this using Windows Explorer:
  1. Open Windows Explorer by pressing the Windows key and clicking Computer; then browse to the folder whose permissions you want to manage.

  2. Right-click the folder you want to manage and then choose Properties from the contextual menu.

    The Properties dialog box for the folder appears.

  3. Click the Sharing tab; then click Advanced Sharing.

    The Advanced Sharing dialog box appears.

  4. Click Permissions.

    The dialog box shown appears. This dialog box lists all the users and groups to whom you’ve granted permission for the folder. Initially, read permissions are granted to a group called Everyone, which means that anyone can view files in the share but no one can create, modify, or delete files in the share.

    When you select a user or group from the list, the check boxes at the bottom of the list change to indicate which specific permissions you’ve assigned to each user or group.

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  5. Click the Add button.

    The dialog box shown appears.

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  6. Enter the name of the user or group to whom you want to grant permission and then click OK.

    If you’re not sure of the name, click the Advanced button. This action brings up a dialog box from which you can search for existing users.

    When you click OK, you return to the Share Permissions tab, with the new user or group added.

  7. Select the appropriate Allow and Deny check boxes to specify which permissions to allow for the user or group.

  8. Repeat Steps 5–7 for any other permissions that you want to add.

  9. When you’re done, click OK.

Here are a few other thoughts to ponder concerning adding permissions:

  • If you want to grant full access to everyone for this folder, don’t bother adding another permission. Instead, select the Everyone group and then select the Allow check box for each permission type.

  • You can remove a permission by selecting the permission and then clicking the Remove button.

  • If you’d rather not fuss with the Share and Storage Management console, you can set the permissions from My Computer. Right-click the shared folder, choose Sharing and Security from the contextual menu, and then click Permissions. Then you can follow the preceding procedure, picking up at Step 5.

  • The permissions assigned in this procedure apply only to the share itself. The underlying folder can also have permissions assigned to it. If that’s the case, whichever of the restrictions is most restrictive always applies. If the share permissions grant a user Full Control permission but the folder permission grants the user only Read permission, for example, the user has only Read permission for the folder.

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Doug Lowe is the bestselling author of Networking For Dummies and Networking All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. His 50+ books include more than 30 in the For Dummies series. He has demystified everything from Microsoft Office and memory management to client/server computing and creating web pages.

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