Is there any way to password-protect a hard-disk shared over a WinXP Pro network? I'm guessing it has something to do with getting rid of 'simple file sharing' and setting permissions but I'm afriad this is outside my expertise and experimenting has revealed nothing. All I want is that a user is asked for a password when attempting to access a shared HD (not folder), without any 3rd party software being involved. Any help with be gratefully recieved as this is for a class that I teach!

Yes, uncheck the "use simple file sharing" box and you'll then be able to access the NTFS permissions on shares. You can't however "password protect" a share on an NTFS based system. That low-end type protection was only available in 9x/ME systems. NTFS allows for high-end security and access is controlled through ACL's (access control lists). Simply put, you create a shared folder. Right click on it and select either "Properties" or "Sharing" from the menu that comes up. You will have two tabs available, 1) Sharing and, 2) Security. Sharing is the basic FAT32 type access control and also the place where you actually create the share. Security is the NTFS permissions. To allow someone access to a share, you create a user account for them on the target PC and add them to the Security Tab's ACL and grant the permissions you want them to have (ie: read/write etc). To disallow access, you don't add a user's account to the ACL on the share. I highly recommend you play around with this a bit if you can, and try to do some reading up on ACL's and permissions on MS's website before you teach this class.

Just remember one important thing - if your file system is FAT32 you will not be able to use any of the features outlined above. You have to have NTFS for the features to work. i_XpUser

Thanks for the help, I'll have a play around with it later.

There is one way of simulating sharing password protected. Create the same account on the two boxes. Give each a DIFFERENT password. Results will be that you are presented with a logon dialog box. Put in the account name and password and now you have access to the shares. Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Suggest they internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.