How to Use Advanced Sharing in Windows 7

In Windows 7, you use shared folder permissions to configure who has access to your folders and specifically what type of access they have. For example, you can give an individual or group access to a folder but only give them Read access, which means they can’t make any changes. The specific shared folder permission you can set includes:

Read: Lets the group or user read the contents of a folder or file. However, the user can’t modify those contents in any way.

Change: Gives the group or user Read permission and also lets them modify the contents of the folder or file.

Full Control: Gives the group or user Change permission and also lets them take ownership of the resource.

This is definitely not a new feature as you could set share permissions in previous versions of Windows. However, how you configure shared folder permissions in Windows 7 is slightly different than previous versions.

To use Advanced Sharing, you need to open Windows Explorer and select Folder Options. From the Viewtab, uncheck the Use Sharing Wizard option and click OK. Now you can use the steps described in the rest of this article to use Advanced Sharing.

To set shared folder permissions, you need to launch Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder, subfolder, or file that you want to share. If you are sharing a subfolder or file, make sure you select the subfolder or file and not just the folder in which it’s contained.

From the Task pane, click the Share With button and then click Advanced Sharing. The properties window for the folder appears with the Sharing tab already active. Alternatively, you can also right click the folder, click Share With and then click Advanced Sharing. Either method brings you to the Properties window.

From the Properties window, you can set the Advanced Shared Permissions.

Following the above steps, the Sharing Wizard should be disabled and the Properties window for the folder or file that you want to share should be open.

From the Properties window, make sure the Sharing tab is active and select the Advanced Sharingbutton.

The Advanced Sharing window appears. First, select the check box beside the Share this folder option. Next, you need to type in a share name. By default, Windows 7 uses the name of the folder as the share name, but you can change the name by typing a new name in the Share name field.

You’ll notice that Windows 7 lets 20 users access a shared folder or file at one time. On a small network, the default value should be sufficient. However, you can change the default using the up and down arrows beside the Limit the number of simultaneous users to option.

Now you’re ready to set the permissions. Click the Permissions button from the Advanced Sharing window shown in the figure above to display the Permissions window.

Select the Everyone group in the Group or user names list, and then click Remove. Click Add to display the Select users or groups window. Within the Enter the object names to select text box, type the name of the user or users you want to give permission to access the shared folder (separate multiple usernames with semicolons). Click OK when you’re done to return to the Permissions window.

Next select the appropriate user in the Group or user names list. You can now use the permissions list to allow or deny one of the following permissions: Read, Change, or Full Control. Click OK if you’re done. If you want to assign permissions to additional users or group, repeat these steps to assign them the appropriate permissions.

Click OK to return to the Advanced Sharing window and click OK again to return to the Sharing tab. Finally, when you click Close, the folder or file is accessible to others on the network.

Click OK to return to the Sharing tab, and then click Close to share the resource with the network.

Now, if you didn’t already know how to use Advanced Sharing in Windows 7, you should be fully capable. Was the process easier than you thought, or could you have explained it more precisely?