Help me understand this. Windows 7 Pro, using workgroups not a domain in a small SOHO network. I want to share a folder, so I right click on a folder and choose "Properties" and then select the "Sharing" tab. This gives me the window shown in the first picture:- http://cid-a9378e9e6519c0ad.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Technical%20stuff/share-issue-step1.jpg This says to me, the folder is shared with "Bucko" and only Bucko, no mention of all users. Great, so I click "Share". Windows works for a second or two and tells me my folder is shared. I click "Done". Now, I find that anyone on the local network can access this share! Going into "Advanced Sharing..." and then clicking "Permissions" I see this:- http://cid-a9378e9e6519c0ad.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Technical%20stuff/share-issue-step2.jpg Everyone?! Why has Windows added Everyone to the share list? On picture 1, we can see Everyone is clearly NOT in the list of people to share the folder to. This doesn't make sense to me, what am I missing?

Hi Bucko, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet forums. When you share a folder, click the arrow, choose “everyone” or “Find people…”. If you only want to share it with a specific people, you need to select users or groups. Then the user/users will show under the Owner name. Now share that folder again like I said, then check if it works. Best Regards, Miya Yao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comThis posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Miya Thanks for getting back to me, I did exactly as you said, explicity only adding "Bucko" to the list of people on the share (as in screenshot 1). When I go to advanced sharing permissions, Everyone has full control. I've duplicated this on several Windows 7 machines, I just don't understand why Windows is adding all users permission seemingly behind my back. At least knowing about it I can manually pull the all users from the advanced sharing options.

Hi Bucko, Have you tried changed the permissions in the security tab? Regards,

Hi Bucko, If you’re using NTFS file system. Accessing to a folder on a file server can be determined through two sets of permission entries: the share permissions set on a folder and the NTFS permissions set on the folder. Share permissions and NTFS permissions are independent in the sense that the neither changes the other. The final access permissions on a shared folder are determined by taking into consideration both the share permission and the NTFS permission entries. The more restrictive permissions are then applied. The two screenshots your provided, they’re different permissions. The first one is sharing permission, which you gave it to Bucko. However, the second one is NTFS permission which for everyone. It doesn’t mean Everyone have the permission to this folder. For the final permission of this folder, please right-click the shared folder- Properties – Security Tab – Advanced – Effective Permissions. Best Regards, Miya Yao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hello Miya, That clears up my confusion, thank you. Googling around at least I'm not the first one to be caught out by this. What I don't understand is how everyone could access my share over the network when I'd set only permissions for myself. I must have made a mistake somewhere. I will be more careful to audit and test sharing permissions in the future. I also notice that when you create a new folder, its permissions are set by default to read access for all users, but once you share it on the network, the NTFS permissions are changed to full access, strange.

Hi Bucko, Glad to hear it helps. The permission is complicated, it depends on several factors, like the standard user or administrator, the sharing permission, the NTFS permission, the Group Policy settings and so on. Best Regards, Miya Yao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.