Share and NTFS Permissions

Introduction

The file server permissions must be carefully implemented to provide appropriate access to content. This involves locking down permissions on the share and physical folders.

Permissions

The following table lists permissions that were used for the file server share and folders in the Shared Hosting Setup mentioned in the Planning the Web Hosting Architecture section of the Hosting Guidance. Based on the shared hosting environment used, server administrators should develop their own custom permissions that meet their needs.

Path	Permissions	Reason
\server\share$ (share)	Domain Administrators — Full Control Domain Users — Change MachineAccounts$ — Full Control	The share permissions need to allow the administrators and site accounts to access the content. The physical path will be restricted to actual needed permissions.
E:\Content (physical path of share)	Administrators — Full Control System — Full Control	This is the folder that is shared. It does not need permissions for any accounts aside from the built-in Administrators group and System account.
E:\Content (the container for a specific site or user)	Administrators — Full Control System — Full Control Site Owner — List Folder Contents	This folder is used as a container for folders like the site’s home directory and its log files. The Site Owner should be able to read this folder but does not need write access.
E:\Content \wwwroot (the IIS home directory for the site)	Administrators — Full Control System — Full Control Site Owner — Modify App Pool Username — Read	This is the root of a Web site belonging to the user account. App Pool Username is used as both the application pool identity and the anonymous username for the Web site.
E:\Content \Logs (the container for logs)	Administrators — Full Control System — Full Control Site Owner — Read	Note that this folder for logs is stored ABOVE the root of the site, so that it is not accessible by a visitor browsing the site. It is not recommended that you put this folder in any location accessible from a Web browser, for security purposes.
E:\Content \Logs\FailedReqLogs (the container for failed request tracing logs)	Administrators — Full Control System — Full Control App Pool Username — Full Control	This is the folder used to store Failed Request log files, which allow a site owner to diagnose problems with their Web site. These logs are written by the worker process identity, App Pool Username.
E:\Content \Logs\W3SVCLogFiles (the container for W3SVC traffic logs)	Administrators — Full Control System — Full Control MachineAccount$ — Full Control	This is the folder used to store the log files for the Web site, which allow a site owner to see their traffic patterns. If the server administrator does not wish to share these files or wants to provide an alternate method for determining traffic, these files can be stored elsewhere. MachineAccount$ is the Web server’s machine account, as these logs are written by HTTP.SYS.

Configuring Permissions

To configure permissions for the share

In Windows Explorer, right-click the folder you want to share, and then click Properties.

On the Sharing tab, click Advanced Sharing.

In User Account Control, click Continue to accept the prompt that Windows needs your permission to perform the action.

In the Advanced Sharing dialog box, check Share this folder.

Set the Share name and Comments as appropriate. To make the share hidden, add a $ to the end of the share name.

Hiding a share means that when you connect to \server you will not see the share unless you specifically enter the path \server\share$.

Click Permissions.

In the Permissions dialog box, remove the Everyone group, if it exists.

Add the appropriate user or group that should have access to the share.

Specify the permissions (Full Control, Change, Read) for the user or group.

Click OK twice and then click Close to close the dialog boxes.

To configure permissions for the folder structure

1. In Windows Explorer, right-click the folder you want to share, and then click Properties.
2. On the Security tab, click Edit.
3. In the Permissions dialog box, add the appropriate users or groups that should have access at each level of the folder structure.
4. Specify the permissions (Full control, Modify, Read & execute, List folder contents, Read, Write Special permissions) for the users or groups.
5. Click OK twice to close the dialog boxes.

See C# and PowerShell Scripts Samples for a sample script to configure default documents. as an example of creation of a share and setting of permissions.

How permissions are handled when you copy and move files and folders

This article describes how Windows Explorer handles file and folder permissions in different situations.

Original product version: В Windows 10 — all editions, Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number: В 310316

Summary

In Microsoft Windows 2000, in Windows Server 2003, and in Windows XP, you have the option of using either the FAT32 file system or the NTFS file system. When you use NTFS, you can grant permissions to your folders and files to control access to those objects. When you copy or move a file or folder on an NTFS volume, how Windows Explorer handles the permissions on the object varies, depending on whether the object is copied or moved within the same NTFS volume or to a different volume.

More information

By default, an object inherits permissions from its parent object, either at the time of creation or when it is copied or moved to its parent folder. The only exception to this rule occurs when you move an object to a different folder on the same volume. In this case, the original permissions are retained.

Additionally, note the following rules:

The Everyone group is granted Allow Full Control permissions to the root of each NTFS drive.

Deny permissions always take precedence over Allow permissions.

Explicit permissions take precedence over inherited permissions.

If NTFS permissions conflict, for example, if group and user permissions are contradictory, the most liberal permissions take precedence.

Permissions are cumulative.

To preserve permissions when files and folders are copied or moved, use the Xcopy.exe utility with the /O or the /X switch.

The object’s original permissions will be added to inheritable permissions in the new location.

To add an object’s original permissions to inheritable permissions when you copy or move an object, use the Xcopy.exe utility with the -O and -X switches.

To preserve existing permissions without adding inheritable permissions from the parent folder, use the Robocopy.exe utility, which is available in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.

You can modify how Windows Explorer handles permissions when objects are copied or moved to another NTFS volume. When you copy or move an object to another volume, the object inherits the permissions of its new folder. However, if you want to modify this behavior to preserve the original permissions, modify the registry as follows.

This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then press ENTER.

Locate and then click the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer .

On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:

• Value name: ForceCopyAclwithFile
• Data type: DWORD
• Value data: 1

Exit Registry Editor.

You can modify how Windows Explorer handles permissions when objects are moved in the same NTFS volume. As mentioned, when an object is moved within the same volume, the object preserves its permissions by default. However, if you want to modify this behavior so that the object inherits the permissions from the parent folder, modify the registry as follows:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

Locate and then click the registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer .

On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:

• Value name: MoveSecurityAttributes
• Data type: DWORD
• Value data: 0

Exit Registry Editor.

Make sure that the user account that is used to move the object has the Change Permissions permission set. If the permission is not set, grant the Change Permissions permission to the user account.

The MoveSecurityAttributes registry value only applies to Windows XP and to Windows Server 2003. The value does not affect Windows 2000.

How to change File and Folder permissions in Windows 10

Every file and folder on Windows 10 has permission attributes. It gives your authority to edit, read, write, execute, and modify it. It is relatively easy to change file and folder permissions in Windows 10. However, it depends on the specific criteria. In this post, we will show how you can change file and folder permissions in Windows 10.

How to change File and Folder permissions

I was talking about individual criteria that you need to meet. Those criteria are user authority or power. If you are an admin user, you can almost change anything in Windows. It includes the ability to modify files that are owned by others. However, if you are standard users, you are limited to changing files that only belong to you. In this post, we will discuss the following:

1. Types of Users and Permissions
2. Change Files and Folders Permissions which you own
3. Manage permission when sharing a file or folder with other users
4. Change Files and Folders Permissions which you DON’T own.

While it looks complicated, it is relatively easy to manage permissions. What you need to be careful about is the type of permissions.

1] Type of users in Windows & Permissions

While its not necessary, I think its a good idea that you know about this. There are broadly two types of users— local user accounts and local system accounts.

• Local user accounts include Administrators, Standard users, Child, and Guest account.
• Windows OS manages local System accounts. Accounts with a name such as System, Network service, Local service are all system accounts.

An Administrator can also take over System accounts as well or at least modify the file permissions along with other local user accounts.

Another essential thing, but you should know this. Some of these permissions will not be available for files.

• Full Control
• Modify
• Read and Execute
• List folder contents
• Read
• Write
• Special Permissions

2] Change File and Folder Permissions which you own in Windows 10

This section applies to all kinds of users. As long as you are managing files and folders which you won, there is not much of a problem. But at times, users have experienced that they are not able to edit files that they own or are created by them. Follow the steps to fix those problems.

• Right-click on any folder or file and click on Properties.
• Switch to Security tab, and you should see two sections
  • Group or usernames that have an ownership right on that file
  • Permissions for the selected user
• If you have trouble editing the file or copying files into that folder, then you need to change the permission. Click on the Edit button.
• It will open another window where you can select a user, and add missing permissions by checking the box against the type of permission.
• Once you are done, click on ok, and then apply the changes.

When changing permission for yourself, it is best to check on the box against Full Control. It will keep you off from any trouble you were having with the file or folder.

How to apply the same permission to subfolders and files

It only makes sense to have full control of all the files and folders inside it. Doing it one by one is cumbersome, and thats where you need to use the Advanced button.

• First, make sure to choose the set of permissions or Full control for the top folder
• Then go back to the Security tab, click on the Advanced button.
• Then select the user, which is yourself, and check the box which says—Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object.
• Click on Apply and then Ok button.

In simple words, whatever the permission, the object, i.e. User, which in this case is you, will be applied to all files, and subfolders.

3] Manage permission when sharing a file or folder with other users

There can be multiple scenarios here:

• The file can be shared, but it cannot be modified.
• Folders shared with multiple users, but they are not allowed to delete the file or add any file.
• Some users are allowed to modify files while others can have read-only access.

Open the permission window by clicking on the Edit button. Next, select the user for which you want to modify. If the user is not there, you can add a new user by clicking on the Add button. It will open a search window which you can use to find the user. Add when you find it.

Once the user is available, select it and then assign appropriate permission. Select what you want to allow, and what you want to deny. It is how you would assign for yourself, except that you are doing it for some other account.

4] Change Files and Folders Permissions which you DONT own

That is where ownership comes into the picture. If you do not own a folder or someone else has modified files in such a way, then you can change it. However, only an admin user can change it for you.

Follow our detailed guide to learn how to take ownership of files and folders which you don’t own.

It might be too much to grasp for once, but once you are through, there will be no confusion left. I hope you were able to understand it clearly.

PS: Attribute Changer lets you change file & folder attributes in Windows 10 easily.

Date: November 14, 2019 Tags: Files, User Account