First decide who is allowed to share on your system.
The center section of the Sharing dialog box determines the permissions of the files and folders within the folder or disk you are sharing.
There are three categories of users to define and specify permissions for:
- Owner is defined, by default, as the owner of the system as configured in the Sharing Setup control panel. The Owner name is a pop-up menu containing all of the users you have defined on your system. Defining someone else as the owner of a shared item will allow them to change all permissions pertaining to that folder or disk. You should change the owner of a folder or disk with care.
- The User/Group box allows either a user or a group to have the specified permissions set in the three check boxes.
- The Everyone category covers those users who are not defined in the Owner or User/Group category. This includes the user named Guest. By default, the Guest may log on to any system on the network without a password.
Therefore, for maximum security, always set the Everyone permission settings to off.
If the item you are sharing is a folder inside an already shared folder, you will have a "Same as enclosing folder" check box. Clicking this check box copies the same privileges of the enclosing folder to the currently selected folder.
- Once permissions are set, you can click "Make all enclosed folders like this one" to make the same privileges to all folders beneath the folder on which you are setting permissions.
Second, decide what those users and groups can share.
For each of the three categories -- Owner, User/Group, and Everyone -- you must decide what permissions you wish to grant.
- The permission See Folders indicates that users will have the icons of folders visible when they log on to your system. If this box is not checked, the corresponding user will not see any folders inside the shared item.
- The permission See Files is the same as See Folders, but pertains to files. Without this box checked the corresponding user category will not see any files. Users who can see a file can also copy it.
- When checked, the permission Make Changes allows the corresponding user to alter or throw away files and folders. Otherwise, the user will be able to open the file for viewing but not save any changes.
Once you have checked the permission boxes to reflect how you want your system configured, close the box in order for the changes to take place. Dialog boxes will appear, confirming your changes. Click OK to save your changes, or Cancel to disregard them.
Important: If you do not change any permissions when you select an item for sharing, the default configuration is to have the folder or disk open for view, change, and removal by anyone on your network.