| Shared FoldersTasks |
To share a folder, you first create the folder and then share it. Afterward, you can modify the shared folder by changing the permissions assigned to it or by changing the name under which it is shared, change the caching setting for offline use, share the folder under additional names, or stop sharing it. You can create and manage shared folders in two different ways in WS2003.
By accessing folder properties from the desktop or using Windows Explorer. This method is analogous to how one worked with shared folders in NT 4.0.
By using Shared Folders in Computer Management. This method is analogous to using the NT administrative tool, Server Manager, but is easier and more powerful.
The advantages of using the latter method are:
You can connect to remote machines and share folders without having to know the absolute path to the folder on the machine's drive.
You can view hidden and administrative shares that aren't visible in My Computer, My Network Places, or Windows Explorer.
You are presented with a uniform view of all shares on a machine in a single window.
You can view session information, open files for users connected to shared folders, send messages to those users, and disconnect all or selected sessions and open files.
You can create custom consoles using the Shared Folders snap-in to allow users to manage shared folders on a specific machine.
Let's look at each method in detail.
Select the folder using Windows Explorer and:
Right-click on folder
Share name (required)
This is the name by which the shared folder will be visible on the network, and it doesn't need to be the same as the folder's name itself. The maximum length for a share name is 80 characters.
User limit
The number of concurrent client connections possible to the shared folder depends on the number of client access licenses (CALs) you have purchased.
Permissions
The default permission assigned to a newly created shared folder is Full Control for Everyone. If you add an ordinary user to the access list for a shared folder, the default permission assigned to the user is Read. See
Permissions earlier in this chapter for information on shared-folder permissions.
Offline Settings
Discussed later in this section.
New Share
You can share the folder under additional share names. For example,
C:\Public could be shared first using the default share name
Public and then shared a second time using the share name
Pub . Note that this option is available only after you have shared the folder for the first time. Each time you share a folder, you can assign different permissions and connection limits to the new share.
To modify an existing shared folder:
Right-click on folder
Then make changes to the folder's permissions, change the share name, change the caching settings for offline access, reshare the folder under additional names, or stop sharing the folder as desired.
To share a folder on the local machine using Computer Management, use the Share a Folder Wizard:
Computer Management
Here are the four different options for assigning permissions using the wizard:
All users have read-only access
Allow Read is assigned to Everyone.
Administrators have full access; other users have read-only access
Allow Full Control is assigned to Administrators.
Allow Read is assigned to Everyone.
Administrators have full access; other users have read and write access
Allow Full Control is assigned to Administrators.
Allow Change is assigned to Everyone.
Use custom share and folder permissions
Click the Customize button and assign the permissions you want.
To share a folder on a remote machine using Computer Management, do this:
Computer Management
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Publishing shared folders in Active Directory makes it easier for users to locate shared resources on the network. You should share the folder first before you publish it. To publish a shared folder in Active Directory, open the Active Directory Users and Computers console and:
Right-click on a domain
You can also publish shared folders to an OU within a domain instead of to the domain itself. For example, you can create an OU called Shares to contain all published shared folders in a domain.
Windows Explorer
Once this feature is enabled on the client, you need to configure offline files on the server.
Offline files are enabled on all shared folders by default and can be enabled or disabled on a per-shared folder basis. To enable or disable offline files for a shared folder:
Right-click on shared folder in Windows Explorer
You can either make all files in the share available offline, let the user specify which files in the share will be made available offline, or disable offline files for the share.
Windows Explorer
If you choose to synchronize all offline files before logging off, you must schedule Synchronization Manager to synchronize offline files automatically when you log off. Enabling reminders and specifying a time interval for these will cause a Help balloon to appear over the system tray (bottom-right corner of desktop) when the network connection becomes unavailable.
WS2003 clients automatically utilize 10% of their available disk space for locally caching offline files. If this is not enough, you can change the value here. Clicking View Files opens a window that displays which files have been locally cached. (You can also put a shortcut on your desktop to the
Offline Files folder, which is located within the user's profile in the
Documents and Settings folder.) Clicking Delete Files will let you delete your cached files but has no effect on copies stored on network file servers.
The Advanced button gives you more granular control of caching when you are accessing files on multiple file servers on the network. You can specify a list of file servers whose files are never cached locally or allow files from any file server to be cached (the default).
Right-click shared folder in Windows Explorer
For more information, see
Offline Files under
Shared FoldersConcepts .
Right-click on the
remote file, shared folder, or mapped network drive in Windows Explorer
This starts the Offline Files Wizard, which lets you choose whether to:
Automatically synchronize the file, folder, or network drive when you log off or on to your client computer
Cause Help balloons to appear over the system tray to let you know when your network connection becomes unavailable
Create a shortcut to your
Offline Files folder on your desktop
When you make a file, folder, or network drive available for offline
use, its icon displays a two-way arrow indicating that it will be
synchronized. Marking a network drive or shared folder for offline
use marks all of its subfolders and files for offline use as well. In
addition, any new folders or files you create within it are marked
for offline use. Using the Offline Files Wizard, you configure these
three settings globally for all offline files, folders, and drives by
using the properties sheet opened by Windows Explorer
If a file has been made available offline, then you can manually force the cached local copy of the file to synchronize with the network copy of the file by:
Right-click on file or folder
You can synchronize all or selected offline files by opening Windows Explorer and:
Tools
This opens Items to Synchronize, and by clicking Setup you can control synchronization by:
Configuring how synchronization occurs on different network connections. This is useful if your computer is a portable and is used on multiple LAN or WAN connections.
Toggling whether the user should be prompted before synchronizing files.
Specifying which offline files should be synchronized after events like:
User logs on or off from network
System idle for a period of time
System running on battery power
In addition, Scheduled
When a file with different modified versions on the client computer and network file server is synchronized, a Resolve File Conflicts dialog box appears, asking you whether you want to:
Keep both versions (the local one is renamed and saved on the file server)
Replace the remote version with the local one
Discard the local one
You can open both versions of the file for viewing to help you make your decision. You can also make your choice the default for all conflicts with offline files.
When you are working offline (for example, when the network connection to a file server on which you have enabled offline files has gone down), you can have a computer icon appear in the system tray and a Help balloon message notify you (see
Configure Offline Files on Server earlier in this section). This system-tray icon is helpful since you can right-click on it to check the status of your connection to the file server and attempt to force synchronization. When the connection is restored, you can go back to the online version of the file by double-clicking the system-tray icon and clicking OK. When files are offline, you can work with them and save changes. When your network connection is restored and you log off, these changes will be synchronized with the server.
Shadow copies must be enabled before they can be used. To enable shadow copies on your server, do the following:
Computer Management
You can also do it this way:
Windows Explorer
Computer Management
To view shadow copies you must first install appropriate client software for your version of Windows. First, you need to share the client files on a WS2003 machine:
Windows Explorer
\\System32\clients\twclient
Now the client can connect and install the software:
Start
This installs the Previous Version Client on your machine, and you can now work with shadow copies on the file server.
Windows Explorer
If no previous versions are displayed, the file has not changed since the oldest copy was taken.
Windows Explorer
You can use this to recover a file that was accidentally deleted.
Windows Explorer
This deletes the current version of the file!