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WinXp User account problems by banky on 04-29-2005 at 06:48 AM

Ok.. today I notcied when I logged into my brothers user account which is a limited account. When he goes into My Computer he can access My Documents(not only his but my account's documents only) My account being an Administration account you would think that the file would not show up when he logged into his account or at least not have access to it.. Does anyone know how to make it not show up on his login when he loggs in with a limited account not the Administration account.


RE: WinXp User account problems by Weyzza on 04-29-2005 at 06:50 AM

Yeah, I have the same problem, too, except the Guest account can access admin's documents which makes the Guest acc. totally useless :dodgy:


RE: WinXp User account problems by banky on 04-29-2005 at 06:59 AM

I try to make the folder private which seems to be impossible becuase My drive is FAT32 and m$ says this

quote:
Originally posted by M$

You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS, click Related Topics.

So does anyone have any ideas?
RE: WinXp User account problems by Ahmad on 04-29-2005 at 07:02 AM

convert it to ntfs


RE: WinXp User account problems by banky on 04-29-2005 at 07:03 AM

By doing that it says i have to format the drive don't that mean i'll lose everything.


RE: WinXp User account problems by Hank on 04-29-2005 at 07:08 AM

i wouldnt  convert it ,, , goes to show ya again. NO SECURITY in Windows


RE: WinXp User account problems by DXtremz on 04-29-2005 at 07:09 AM

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winx...in/convertfat.mspx

Demz, you make no sense. NTFS is NT File System, Hence WINDOWS NT (or Windows NT Based), NTFS is secure, it has security, it is FAT that does not have any security features. Don't talk about what you don't know.


RE: WinXp User account problems by banky on 04-29-2005 at 07:10 AM

That's why im trying to fina an alternative to converting it i dont want to.


RE: WinXp User account problems by CookieRevised on 04-29-2005 at 07:35 AM

quote:
Originally posted by The Don
By doing that it says i have to format the drive don't that mean i'll lose everything.
No you don't have to format. Click on the link provided by DXtremz, it explains how you can convert from FAT32 to NFTS (without formatting) with basic Windows programs/functions.

There are also other 3rd party programs which can do it, like "Partition Magic".

quote:
Originally posted by DXtremz
quote:
Originally posted by Demz
i wouldnt  convert it ,, , goes to show ya again. NO SECURITY in Windows
Demz, you make no sense. NTFS is NT File System, Hence WINDOWS NT (or Windows NT Based), NTFS is secure, it has security, it is FAT that does not have any security features. Don't talk about what you don't know.
Indeed!!
RE: WinXp User account problems by banky on 04-29-2005 at 07:37 AM

Thanks cookie but like I was telling Dx on msn im a total n00b and even if i read carefully i would probally still mess something up.


RE: WinXp User account problems by DXtremz on 04-29-2005 at 08:57 AM

The Don: Microsoft's KB seems to make it sound pretty easy. You'll always have a chance of ruining everything, but heck, you could have that same problem by hitting the power button. Just go out and buy a pack of CD-Rs or DVD-Rs and back up your important stuff, then do it. Worse case scenario is that you lose all your data and have to recover it from CD/DVD. Just depends on how much it's worth to you to have your files "Hidden".

Cookie: I personally don't like Partition Magic, it doesn't play nice if you have multiple partitions, Always seems to mess up my MBR. I think the best option here is to A) do nothing, or B) use the windows tool to just convert the drive.

Seeing as Fat32 doesn't natively support security features like NTFS does, there ARE third part tools, however they will slow down certain things and have to run on startup on all accounts etc. Definately worth it to use NTFS anyway as it's just a better FS all in all and you can benefit from the other features it offers.


RE: WinXp User account problems by squall_leonhart69r on 04-29-2005 at 11:33 AM

YOU CAN make your folders private on Fat32

theres a whole range of hidden options including hiding files owned by other users

its just to much issue for some


RE: WinXp User account problems by CookieRevised on 04-29-2005 at 12:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DXtremz
Cookie: I personally don't like Partition Magic, it doesn't play nice if you have multiple partitions, Always seems to mess up my MBR. I think the best option here is to A) do nothing, or B) use the windows tool to just convert the drive.
PM is among the most powerfull and professional tools there are for such things. It never messed anything up for me (and I have used it heavly in the past) and is a very decent tool if you need to do more then the basic supported stuff in Windows (though for just converting to NFTS it is indeed not needed as Windows can do it also).

quote:
Originally posted by squall_leonhart69r
YOU CAN make your folders private on Fat32. Theres a whole range of hidden options including hiding files owned by other users. It's just to much issue for some
although you can hide stuff, you can't totaly secure stuff with FAT32. The benefit of NTFS over FAT32 is that NFTS supports real physical encryption of data, with FAT32 the best you can do, nativly, is to hide stuff, which in the end can still be found if you know how (heck, it isn't that hard to find out how though).
RE: RE: WinXp User account problems by Sunshine on 04-29-2005 at 01:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by The Don
Thanks cookie but like I was telling Dx on msn im a total n00b and even if i read carefully i would probally still mess something up.

It's really simple to convert from fat32 to ntfs:
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs (as explained on the page DX linked to)

So if you want to convert C: drive to ntfs:
start > run > type: convert C: /fs:ntfs

D: would be: convert D: /fs:ntfs

etc.

You won't loose anything (i know so, i've done it that way too in the past).
quote:
Originally posted by cookieRevised
PM is among the most powerfull and professional tools there are for such things. It never messed anything up for me (and I have used it heavly in the past) and is a very decent tool if you need to do more then the basic supported stuff in Windows
I agree there, i use PM too for resizing partitions (often C: needs more space). It never messed up, you just gotta let it do it's work and not interfere. You can always make backups first just incase.
RE: WinXp User account problems by squall_leonhart69r on 04-29-2005 at 01:52 PM

eh... i've been encrypting stuff in fat32 for a good long time

i've also been securing my user accounts with passwords

guest account on most setups isn't actually a guest account

you can access alot with the guest account

you need to manually lower the guest accounts access level to certain folders and with fat32 you can do this by preventing guest access to folders within a certain group

in my case the guest account can only access the all users folder and some games


RE: WinXp User account problems by banky on 04-29-2005 at 01:54 PM

And how did you make it to where the guest can only access the all users folder :|


RE: WinXp User account problems by surfichris on 04-29-2005 at 02:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by squall_leonhart69r
eh... i've been encrypting stuff in fat32 for a good long time
Encryption?! You've got to be kidding me. There is no form of data encrytion in fat32 or NTFS natively. NTFS5 however (Windows 2k/XP) supports encryption of files. For other file systems you need an external program.
quote:
Originally posted by squall_leonhart69r
guest account on most setups isn't actually a guest account
Actually I think you'll find it's a Windows Restricted/Limited user account and if you ARE using NTFS you WILL have the permissions setup so the guest cannot access other directories in which they can't.
quote:
Originally posted by squall_leonhart69r
you need to manually lower the guest accounts access level to certain folders and with fat32 you can do this by preventing guest access to folders within a certain group

Sorry to put a boot up your ass, but Fat32 doesn't suppot object permissions. Therefore anyone can access anything they like.
quote:
Originally posted by The Don
And how did you make it to where the guest can only access the all users folder
If using NTFS navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\. Right click on the All Users folder , Properties, then the Security tab. Add Guests to the list of groups/users and allow read/write access. However guests should already have access to this folder by default.
RE: WinXp User account problems by squall_leonhart69r on 04-29-2005 at 03:21 PM

thats odd, becoz fat32 has the same restrictions as ntfs when set right

its kind of like sharing objects over a network

where you can share a folder without sharing the entire drive

i recreated the guest account so it can only access certain folders

although i guess alot of you don't have User2 in the control panel

which allows for a more advanced setup of user accounts


RE: WinXp User account problems by CookieRevised on 04-30-2005 at 01:44 AM

quote:
Originally posted by squall_leonhart69r
thats odd, becoz fat32 has the same restrictions as ntfs when set right
its kind of like sharing objects over a network
where you can share a folder without sharing the entire drive
i recreated the guest account so it can only access certain folders
simply boot from another disk (eg: a floppy) and go to this "protected" hard disk and you'll be able to do everything you want and access anything you want....
RE: WinXp User account problems by Chestah on 04-30-2005 at 05:51 AM

The only pitfall of converting a FAT32 drive over to NTFS instead of reformatting the drive is that you lose speed.

I've noticed this many times when i've done it, in the long run its better to save your data to dvd's (or network computer) and do a full format (not quick format) of NTFS.


RE: WinXp User account problems by CookieRevised on 04-30-2005 at 01:18 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Chestah
The only pitfall of converting a FAT32 drive over to NTFS instead of reformatting the drive is that you lose speed.

I've noticed this many times when i've done it, in the long run its better to save your data to dvd's (or network computer) and do a full format (not quick format) of NTFS.
yup, that's indeed the only disadvantage from converting without formatting.

Although this can mostly be solved by defragmenting the FAT32 partition before converting (come to think of it, this is always a very wise choice to do before converting) and after the conversion defrag again.