The problem I am trying to solve is with mapped drives; below are the problems I am trying to overcome. Any help or suggestions would gladly appreciated; thanks in advance! 1. When mapping a network drive the password is sent in clear and is also stored on the computer if reconnect on logon is checked. I would like to secure the password file by encrypting it or using cryptography to crypt it.
2. Mapped drives will only be visable for the user account that created the mapped drive. The system has multiple users that will need access to the same mapped drive. Creating a shortcut of the mapped drive and placing it in the all users shared folder would allow other users access, but the application that needs to see may not be able to see it becasue it uses a UNC path to access it. (however, a small light bulb just turned on, don't worry it's a energy saver)
3. I would to create this network map once and not at each logon, which casue for a logon script. The problem with scripting, is the password will be stored in it, unless there is a way to pull it from the password file. I could code it but the same problem would exist, the password would be stored in the code.
1. Whatever encryption you applied would have to be reversible without outside intervention, so your users will still be able to see the password. 2. Networked resources have associated credentials, and credentials have an associated user. That means mapped drives are per user, and not per workstation. Look into logon scripts.
3. This is true. The solution is AD.
If you just want to give your users access to a network resource, the easiest way is to enable the Guest account and give that account access to the share in question. The clients will fall back to the Guest account, which has access to the resource, they can get their work done, and you can drop any pretenses of security.
The other option is to set up identical accounts on the server in question, and have the users set their password to be identical to their real account. They'll have to manually keep the passwords in sync.