File Sharing

[powerdave]

I'm connected to a LAN most of the time and just wanted to know the easiest way of sharing a folder or two. Should I create a new account specifically for this or is there any way to activate a guest account so people at the other end don't need to enter a password the whole time?

And how do I select the folders I want to have accessed? I've connected to my PowerBook before using my main account / password and was given full access to everything, the desktop etc. but all i want to be available is, like i said, just a folder or two.

Also It'll be windows users that are gonna be on the receiving end :)

[yellow]

Guest account with no password, bad idea jeans.
Do create a sharing user and give it a password.
Then use SharePoints (http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/) and the reast should be easy..

[powerdave]

Thanks for the help!
Ok, so a shared account with a password... done. What about limitations? I don't want the Desktop, Music etc. folders shared, y'see. Or does Sharepoints take care of that?

[yellow]

It will not take care of that.

If your machine is in danger of these people logging in, then I'd go with Simple Finder and turn off all the applications. Naturally they should NOT be admin users.

[powerdave]

Well that makes sense. Now when i look at my new account (or folder) through finder, it displays all the various subfolders.. desktop, music, etc and none of them are accessible. But I don't understand the next step between this and picking a folder to allow access to. I've selected a folder i want shared in Sharepoints, in the "Normal Shares" Pane.. is that all there is to it?

[yellow]

Well that makes sense. Now when i look at my new account (or folder) through finder, it displays all the various subfolders.. desktop, music, etc and none of them are accessible.

None of them may be accessible to you, because you did not change the permissions on the user directory so you could have access to them when logged in as yourself. To fix this, change the "Others" permissions in Get Info for that user's directory (and apply it to all the subfolders), or with this from the Terminal:

sudo chmod -R o+wrx /Users/new_user_you_created

Where, naturally, "new_user_you_created" is the shortname of the new user that you created.

[yellow]

Actually, scratch that, the GUIfied method through the Get Info window doesn't work, and my directions weren't correct.

It'd go with:

sudo chmod -R o+wrx /Users/new_user_shortname

and to protect your own directory:

sudo chmod -R o-wrx /Users/your_user_shortname

OR

Create a new group called share, and make sure that you are added to it, as well as the new user that you created. Then make sure that the group ownership for the new user you created is that of the group "share".