File sharing with windows PCs

elliot_hook

I'm quite new to using a Mac and want to share files with other windows users on my home network. I set up the windows filesharing option in system preferences but rather than just share the 'public' folder, my whole directory was visible on other peoples computers, giving them access to everything.



Is there a way of making only one folder shared, as with windows, or is it all or nothing?



Cheers

mr. h

Quote:

Originally posted by elliot_hook

I'm quite new to using a Mac and want to share files with other windows users on my home network. I set up the windows filesharing option in system preferences but rather than just share the 'public' folder, my whole directory was visible on other peoples computers, giving them access to everything.



Is there a way of making only one folder shared, as with windows, or is it all or nothing?



Cheers

Hmmm. That doesn't sound right. People should only be able to see your files if they've entered your user name and password. And if they've done that (or you did it for them) wouldn't you expect them to be able to see all your files? If they log in as a guest* they should only see the "public" folder.



* not sure how to do that in Windows, I've got 2000 on my PC, and I don't normally use Windows file sharing Mac --> PC. I decided that I'd turn on windows file sharing on my PowerBook and then log in from the Windows machine, to see if I could replicate your problem. On the PC I was asked to enter a name and password, so I entered both and unsurprisingly could see all of my files. The only problem is that now the PC doesn't show a name/password dialogue when I connect to the mac, it just auto logs-in, and there seems to be no way of stopping it doing that. What if I want to log in as a different user? Anyone know?

elliot_hook

That was the problem, my housemate tried to log in as some kind of guest but nothing worked, so entered my u/n and p/w and that was it... unrestricted access, my mistake I know.



Is it possible to set up a second user account that people on my network can log into with restricted access?

mr. h

this new hint at MacOSXHints today should help towards solving your problem. You may like to wait until the hint has some feedback comments. The only problem is, as I said before, I don't know how to stop Windows from automatically providing the user name/password that you entered before.