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Killy
12-12-2004, 12:34 AM
Is there a way to prevent people from accessing certain drives, in Windows XP, like formatting to some unconventionnal file system.

crono_logical
12-12-2004, 12:47 AM
Format as NTFS. Then on the files/folders you want to restrict access (or even the entire drive), right click in explorer > Properties, and choose the Security tab. Then you can adjust the permissions there as you please :p

If the tab is missing, you need to make it visible. In Explorer, Tools > Folder Options > View > Untick the Use Simple File Sharing check box, should be the last in the whole list. I don't know if this is XP Pro only or not.

Yamaneko
12-12-2004, 12:52 AM
Formatting to reiserfs in Windows XP isn't going to help you much either. :D

You could setup permissions for your drives when you right click on a drive and go into Properties > Security. Of course it would be favorable to password protect your Windows login or else anyone could log onto your account and access the drive you've protected.

If you can't seem to get to the Security tab in Properties, first go to any explorer window and go to Tools > Folder Options > View > and untick Use Simple File Sharing. Go back to the Properties Window and it should appear.

EDIT: What he said. :D

Killy
12-12-2004, 12:52 AM
I used partition magic to make that drive, and when I did it, I got an error saying it couldnt format it to NTSF. Will it pose any problems if I try to format it or is there a reason behind this.

Yamaneko
12-12-2004, 12:55 AM
I'm assuming you have one HDD, right? Is your Windows installation on an NTFS formatted drive or something else (FAT32)?

Killy
12-12-2004, 01:00 AM
I have 2 hard drives on 2 computers I have to do this with. One of them is Fat32, along with is different partitions. The other one has a main NTSF partition and 2 Fat32 ones.

Edit: I noticed this is far from being clear

Computer one

C: Fat32
D: Fat32
E: Fat32
All of the abose is one HD

Computer 2
C: NTSF
D: Fat32
E: Fat32
This is the one where partition magic wouldnt make D and E into NTSF

crono_logical
12-12-2004, 01:06 AM
Don't use Partition Magic to format NTFS drives as that can sometimes do strange things, delete that problem partition and then use WinXP's own disk management tool to make it NTFS.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management on the left. You should be able to right click a partition and format as NTFS there.


EDIT: Looking at your edit, you have to delete the partition and recreate it as NTFS in the first place to format it as NTFS afterwards. Though I still recommend not using Partition Magic on NTFS drives.

Killy
12-12-2004, 01:12 AM
Also, can I do it if the users I want to protect it from have admin priviledges. If I cant, is there a way to make their account so they can install stuff as they please without having me to type in the password.

I did not know WinXP had built-in partition tools, I guess I wont need Partition Magic anymore.

crono_logical
12-12-2004, 01:37 AM
If they have admin priviledges, then I suppose you might have to play around with encryption properties of NTFS, something I've not used myself before, so can't help you much more than point you in that general direction :p

Killy
12-12-2004, 01:39 AM
Can I create a usergroup that would give them similar priviledges (or the same)?

Yamaneko
12-12-2004, 01:41 AM
I'm pretty sure you can deny admin privileges and grant a specific admin access.

crono_logical
12-12-2004, 01:47 AM
You can deny an admin certain priviledges, but being an admin, there's little stopping them giving themselves the priviledges back again, taking ownership if necessary :p

Killy
12-12-2004, 01:52 AM
Im counting on the fact that they lack initiative and computer knowledge. They will beleive there is nothing they can do.

Dr Unne
12-12-2004, 01:57 AM
*must... resist... urge... to recommend... Linux...*

Baloki
12-12-2004, 02:21 AM
Can't you make them a user with the power to install programs using a wizard? Or was that a different thing...

Yamaneko
12-12-2004, 02:24 AM
Supposedly Limited Accounts can't install all kinds of 32-bit programs, and no 16-bit programs.

Killy
12-12-2004, 02:31 AM
*must... resist... urge... to recommend... Linux...*


Go ahead, id like to know what kind of features Linux offers for these things.

crono_logical
12-12-2004, 11:45 AM
Linux is designed to be multiuser from the start, I believe. The sort of thing you're trying to do with file permissions would be trivial to do in linux. And users wouldn't need to install anything to make them run, most average user programs that they can compile themselves should run from within their home folders without being installed system-wide, so they wouldn't need admin priviledges at all.

Dr Unne
12-13-2004, 04:06 AM
It would be somewhat difficult (or at least fairly insane) to set up Linux to run everyone with admin powers. In Linux exactly one user has admin power by default (called root) and you never, ever, ever use root except to do system administration. A user has access to his own home folder, and that's it, period. (There are a few exceptions, but ignore them.) A user can install programs locally, and they exist only for him. A user can wreak havoc in his home directory and none of it ever spills over to affect any other user or the system itself. All files have permissions; it's mandatory, files are created with a default set of permissions and they can then be changed. It's trivial to deny all other users to have permission to look at your files. (Except root, who can do anything.)

It's trivial to deny users the ability to mount (i.e. access) certain partitions (or all partitions) in Linux. But if a user has physical access to a hard drive, it's very difficult to completely deny them access. If they boot from a CD for example, they can do almost anything they want to your system. Linux however has the capability to encrypt entire partitions, so that even with physical access to the drive, no one can ever access your data without a password (they could probably still delete the partition though).