"Protecting Shared Folders In Windows XP Home" article in PC Magazine

[Steve Smith]

I just read the article "Protecting Shared Folders In Windows XP Home" on
page 75 of the Feb. 4, 2003 PC Magazine, see
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,803367,00.asp and pasted below.

I don't understand how setting up a password for a Guest account is better
than just leaving the Guest account off. Can someone explain?

Thank you,

Steve Smith

Article follows:

>>>>>>>>>>>>

February 1, 2003
Protecting Shared Folders In Windows XP Home
By Konstantinos Karagiannis

Probably the most frustrating omission in Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition is that there's no way to add a password to a shared folder, which
means you can't restrict individual access to the folder. Anyone with a
valid user name and password can access every share on the PC. We can't fix
that problem, but we have found a simple workaround that lets you prevent
outsiders from accessing your shared folders.

Here's the idea: If you don't have a valid user name and password, you
can access a shared folder only as a Guest. Password-protect the Guest
account and you thwart unwanted access. Here's how-in six easy steps:

a.. Log on as Administrator.
a.. Go to Settings | Control Panel | User Accounts, and click on Guest
Account to make sure it is turned on.
a.. Go to Start | Run, type cmd, and hit Enter.
a.. At the prompt, type Net user guest password and hit Enter.
a.. Go back to User Accounts and click on the Guest account.
a.. Note that you can now add a password (see the screen). Do so and
reboot.

From now on, any attempt to log on to shared folders from the Guest
account will require the Guest password for access-even if the Guest account
is turned off!

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

If the Guest account is off it cannot be used.
If on with a password it can be used but a prompt for
the password will be given to those attempting access.

--
Roger

"Steve Smith" <s.w.smith...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:IMiU9.50813$t06.2...@news2.east.cox.net...

[Steve Smith]

"Roger Abell wrote :

> If the Guest account is off it cannot be used.
> If on with a password it can be used but a prompt for
> the password will be given to those attempting access.

I understand that, but why not just leave the Guest account off?

Steve Smith

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

"Steve Smith" <s.w.smith...@cox.net> wrote in message

news:bHlU9.52565$t06.2...@news2.east.cox.net...

Because it is useful to have it on, particularly in a mixed
environment, or if one uses Simplified sharing. If it is on
then \anyone can access things shared to Everyone, and they
do no have to have an account. If on with a password the
same is true but they need to know the password. If you
use accounts, then this forces downlevel and Home clients
to "log in" at their own machines under the name you
defined on your machine for them. That is not always
the nicest restriction to impose.

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Disabling the Guest account only applies to local console logon. It does
not apply to network authentication. Simple file sharing authenticates
all remote users to local Guest privileges whether or not local Guest
logon is enabled or disabled.

So the password is useful mostly for remote access, if you disable local
logon.

--
Kent W. England, MS MVP for Windows XP
(Please respond only in the newsgroup)

"Steve Smith" <s.w.smith...@cox.net> wrote in message

news:IMiU9.50813$t06.2...@news2.east.cox.net...

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

Hi Kent,

Disabling Guest disables Guest, for all logon. Now, there are
some special new terms being thrown around in the XP versions,
so there is room for confusion here, but the attribute on an account
that is surfaced in lusrmgr to disable the account does disable it
from all forms of login. This of course is not necessarily the same
as Home turning the account on and off, which I have not examined.

Simplified sharing authenticates a user as that user when Guest
is disabled, and then remaps the authorization to what would be
appropriate for Guest.

--
Roger

"Kent W. England [MVP]" <k...@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:ear1eCruCHA.2568@TK2MSFTNGP12...

[Steve Smith]

Thanks to everyone who answered. I understand now. I has also asked this
question on a PC magazine forum and this is what PC Mag Project leader Neil
Rubenking had to say:
"The difference is that after you enable and password-protect the Guest
account, YOU, the authorized person, can access the shared folders from
another machine even if your username isn't "known" to the XP Home system."

Neil J. Rubenking
Project leader, PC Magazine