Advanced Sharing

Advanced Sharing allows a user with administrative privileges to set custom permissions for multiple users, control the number of simultaneous connections and caching for offline files, and set other advanced properties. Some of these topics require training in or knowledge of network administration. The Public folder and selective sharing methods described in the preceding sections should be adequate for a home network and much easier to work with.

For people who understand the concepts (and potential problems) involved, we’ll just quickly run through the process. Locate the folder you want to share, right-click that folder’s icon, and choose Properties. Click the Sharing tab and click Advanced Sharing. Elevate your privileges (if prompted) and choose Share This Folder. Then click the Apply button. Set the number of simultaneous users up to a maximum of 20 and (optionally) add a comment.

To configure sharing permissions, click the Permissions button to open the Permissions dialog box for the shared folder. Here, you can view existing sharing permissions and also add and remove users and groups. You’ll notice that you are limited to specifying Full Control, Change, or Read permission sharing levels.

If the disk where the shared folder resides is on an NTFS volume, you can also set NTFS permissions, which are more flexible than sharing permissions. To set NTFS permissions, open the properties for the folder and click the Security tab (see Figure 50.13).

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