Passord Protecting Netowork Shares

In Windows XP Home, how do you password protect network shared folders and printers?

 

I don't have XP-home to play with so the following is the way XP-Pro does it. Also I have NTFS and no way to check a PC running FAT32. Hopefully the same but can't be sure.

There are several approaches to the sort of security I think you are asking about. This is the one I prefer.

- disable the Guest account
- add a user account with non-blank password to the Local Users section for any users who will be connecting to the PC.
- any who want to connect will need to log on to their PC using one of those username/password accounts.
- if you want a "guest" account, make one but call it something else. The built-in Guest account has too many "special" features for my comfort. For simplicty you can set the account name and password the same but you are giving up some protection if you do that.
- when you set up the share, go into the Permissions section and add each user you want to have access. Give them the amount of control you want them to have.
- After you have added at least one account, delete the Everyone listing.

You'll notice this approach is much different than you would use on a 9X/ME PC.

If any of the above just won't work or isn't available on your system, say what and I can probably figure out what XP-home wants instead.

Or maybe (hopefully) someone running XP-home will post here. They will need to know what file system you use though since FAT32 has lots fewer security options available than NTFS.

 

Thanks for the answer but I think that you can only do this easily in Pro. I used to have it no problem on an other PC and it was a sinch. I'll just upgrade back to Pro. It's no problem, thanks anyway.