Sign in
Microsoft.com
 
Microsoft
 
 
 

locked
Meshing a network drive / shared office drive causing permision problems RRS feed

 > 

  • Question

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hi, we have a small office, with a network drive. We have 'meshed' this network drive with other PCs offsite, which all works correctly.

    However, when users in the office try and access folders on the network drive, they have permission problems with messages appearing: "Access Denied".

    Is there a known issue with using Shared drives or network drives with live mesh, and if so are there any work arounds?

    The goal would be to enable the office network drive to be synced with several offsite PCs, whilst continuing to allow office based users to access the network drive without using Live Mesh for each PC in the office.

    Many thanks,

    Tom Rowley

    Edit: All PCs used have windows XP. The one office PC that was used to install Live Mesh and add the network drive works correctly.
    Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:26 PM

Answers

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hi, Tom.
    Yes, there's a permissions issue where the file permissions are *not* maintained at the folder level. Basically, as I recall the issue, when files are synchronized the file permissions are carried over from the source machine. This isn't limited to a network Share, but happens between machines, too. For example, if you have files that you wish to sync to a folder that is Public for other users on your network with all files within a private folder on a source PC, the files will sync to the "public" folder, but not have the public permissions set.
    Right click the files in your Shared location to see what the file permissions are.
    This has been reported before and I suspect that one or more suggestions for improving this have been filed and voted on:
    This post explains how to submit and vote on Suggestions on Connect.
     

    Live Mesh Beta: Suggestions - Go cast your vote!

    -steve

    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare, Live Mesh, & MS Security Essentials Forums Moderator
    Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:51 PM
    Moderator

All replies

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hi, Tom.
    Yes, there's a permissions issue where the file permissions are *not* maintained at the folder level. Basically, as I recall the issue, when files are synchronized the file permissions are carried over from the source machine. This isn't limited to a network Share, but happens between machines, too. For example, if you have files that you wish to sync to a folder that is Public for other users on your network with all files within a private folder on a source PC, the files will sync to the "public" folder, but not have the public permissions set.
    Right click the files in your Shared location to see what the file permissions are.
    This has been reported before and I suspect that one or more suggestions for improving this have been filed and voted on:
    This post explains how to submit and vote on Suggestions on Connect.
     

    Live Mesh Beta: Suggestions - Go cast your vote!

    -steve

    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare, Live Mesh, & MS Security Essentials Forums Moderator
    Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:51 PM
    Moderator
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hi Stephen many thanks for the reply. I wondered from your suggestion to check file permissions, whether you are implying that there is a work around, or whether you are just stating that this an insurmountable issue at present, until a possible fix. At present, it makes Live Mesh unusable in my current situation, as files added/edited on other Live Mesh PCs, will not open on office PCs when you try and reach them via the mapped network drive.

    Right clicking the files and folders does not give away anything regarding the permissions, and trying to make all folders on all Live Mesh PCs public, shared, etc does not help. Thanks once again, and fingers crossed, as this product is so close to being the most exciting thing I have seen from MS in a very long time!
    Tuesday, July 21, 2009 8:10 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    At this point there is no solution. When you right click the files, select properties to see the permissions. The exact process depends on the OS. The bottom line, though, is that the folder may be public, but when one your users syncs a file into that folder, it brings the permissions from their PC to the server copy of the file.
    -steve
    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare, Live Mesh, & MS Security Essentials Forums Moderator
    Wednesday, July 22, 2009 12:22 AM
    Moderator
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hi Stephen once again many thanks. For the benefit of others, I managed to allow users to access the problematic files on the network, by doing the following (My OS = Win XP):

    On the server PC where the shared folder resides, I opened My Computer, clicked Tools > Folder Options > View, then in Advanced settings, I unchecked "Use simple File Sharing (Recommended)" and clicked OK.

    Then I located the "meshed" shared folder, right clicked, in properties there should now be a Secutiry Tab. In Advanced, I checked "Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects" and clicked OK.

    This seemed to propogate permissions throughout the whole shared folder, fixing problematic files.

    Of course if more files are added remotely, they will continue to be Synced with problematic permissions, so the above process would need to be repeated.

    Tom
    Wednesday, July 22, 2009 8:26 AM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    You're very welcome.  That is the workaround for now. As I noted earlier, hopefully this will be fixed in a future build as it is an annoying problem.
    -steve
    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare, Live Mesh, & MS Security Essentials Forums Moderator
    Wednesday, July 22, 2009 12:10 PM
    Moderator