Limited file sharing across a network

flogen

Hey all,

I've asked more specific questions about my network set up elsewhere but I figure sorting things out generally might solve all my problems.

At the moment I have a wireless router connected to a maximum of four computers (all wirelessly), an Xbox 360 and a NAS device.

I want to be able to put files on my NAS and share them with some of the computers on the network but not all of them - I also want them to be accessible on the Xbox 360 (media files etc.).

Equally I want to share files from one laptop to another over the network without giving access to other computers - or even making them visible if possible.

At the moment I can access the files on my NAS from the two laptops and they're in a folder that is password protected but this has created two problems -

Firstly the Xbox360 can't see the files in this folder
Secondly I need to enter the password manually every time I turn the computers back on, and the media I have iTunes directed to won't play until I do.

Both laptops are running on XP (one home, one pro if that makes a difference) and the NAS is a LaCie NetworkSpace.

So long story short here's what I want:

To be able to share files between my laptop, netbook, Xbox and NAS on my home network without allowing anyone else access to them.

Is this even possible to do?

Thanks for any advice.

ethernet

Try using the same Windows username on the NAS device. From My Network Places, go to \\server\yourshare and you should be prompted for your login details. If the option's there, allow Windows to remember your password. You shouldn't have to login in separately just to access your NAS share any more. While you're there, map your share to, say, drive Z:\. Furthermore, any other users should not be able to see your files in your share without entering your login credentials. This should stop iTunes from kicking a fuss about logging in first, especially if you've specified the mapped drive letter of the network share (Z:\ in the above example).

Perhaps creating another password-less ("public") account on the NAS device would be best for shared media content (other users, Xbox and so on), assuming it allows you to do so.

flogen

Thanks - mapping the drive worked a treat.

There is a public folder on the drive but if I put stuff there for my Xbox to see, every user can see it.

Is there a way of blocking the files in another way? Like if I get all my devices a static IP and tell it only to allow access from each of them?

Capt'n Midnight

depends on the NAS / folder format but unless you can set permissions per folder then anyone who has access to anything has access to everything

other options are encrypting a folder with something like truecrypt but that would probably be over kill

flogen

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

depends on the NAS / folder format but unless you can set permissions per folder then anyone who has access to anything has access to everything

other options are encrypting a folder with something like truecrypt but that would probably be over kill

Thanks for that - I think I can access and change permissions on each folder (going in the properties and into the security tabs).

I tried to create a new group on my laptop so I could restrict it to my own devices... problem is I can only add my own laptop to the group, I can't get the rest of my stuff added.

I can't find a guide out there to tell me how to create a group and limit access to the NAS to that group. Do you happen to know of any?

Thanks.

ethernet

flogen wrote: »

Thanks - mapping the drive worked a treat.

There is a public folder on the drive but if I put stuff there for my Xbox to see, every user can see it.

Is there a way of blocking the files in another way? Like if I get all my devices a static IP and tell it only to allow access from each of them?

There should be. If you put yourself in a group, say the flogen group, and only your group can access particular directories while everyone else can access the public folder. The NAS device is probably based on Samba which would allow for this kind of refined access. Hopefully your NAS device has a method of implementation its full functionality.