Solved NTFS permission sharing issue

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Hi Everyone,

Just a quick question and I am sure someone who is well versed in this would know the answer. I am sharing a simple folder by right click >> properties >> share (tab) >> advanced sharing >> check box that says share folder >> set permissions to everyone full control.

Now with network discovery on private networks enabled I could only access that folder form other laptops that were using Microsoft accounts not local accounts.

My question is, am I missing something?

Simple local area network at friend's place.

Hello Camron!

In a workgroup, there is no centralized authentication, so each user that needs access to a shared resource will need a local account on the machine that is hosting the share.

In your case, if your friend logs on to their laptop with a local account, for example Bob, and then tries to access a share on your laptop, your laptop doesn't know about the account 'Bob' and will deny access.

You will have to create a local account that your friends can use to access your shares. You can create local accounts with the same user name and password, just understand its not the same account that is on their laptop. If, for example, they change their password on their laptop, this will not change the password for local account you created for them.

Don't forget to assign NTFS permissions to the new local accounts you create over the shared folder. They will need both share (which you've already assigned everyone full control) and NTFS permissions to access the shared resource.

Hope this helps,

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the response, I did add his account (after the fact), in this case i'll just use "Bob". He did not use a password on his local machine, so I left Bob password less on my machine. After this Bob was still not able to access the share; is this because I had already tried to log on with his local account prior and need to re-authenticate with no password?

Also this brings me to another confusing point, my client laptop is running a different Microsoft account then my host laptop sharing folder to the private network yet I did not have to add that Microsoft account into the permissions, I only had to select "everyone"

Regards,
Cam

Hey Camron,

The 'Bob' account on your computer, the one hosting the share, will need a password, even if 'Bob' doesn't want to set a password for his account on his laptop. Bob will have to use this password when connecting to the share. You can disable Password protected sharing from the Advanced Sharing Settings found in the Network and Sharing Center.

Microsoft accounts can be very confusing. Especially with Microsoft changing things so fast. Is the MS account on the client tied to a local account?

Mike

Hi Mike,

That makes sense.

Yes, Microsoft accounts are confusing my understanding of NTFS permissions. I was not aware you could link Microsoft accounts to local accounts. The only options I ever see are either "use Local" or "use Microsoft account"

How it is setup:
Client laptop (can use share freely by signing in with their Microsoft account) - clientlaptop@outlook.com (unrelated to host)

Host laptop (hosts the share) - hostlaptop@outlook.com (unrelated to client)

Bob laptop (local account, no password, cannot access share folder) - no Microsoft account at all, set to "use local account" in accounts under control panel (no password used)

I will test out what you told me above and let you know of the results; but I would still love to understand why I don't have to add Microsoft accounts to my local computer in order for it to be used, because, as you said, there is no centralized authentication.

Regards,
Cam