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Cross-platform access of encrypted disk images and/or files

Hi,

I'll soon be doing work that requires an app that runs only under Windows, and this work will require the use of sensitive files. I'm wondering if I stored the sensitive files in an OS X encrypted disk image if there's any way that I could access these files from a Windows machine on the same network as my Mac. Considering that my Mac would authenticate me when I connected from the Windows machine, I'm wondering if this would unlock the OS X encrypted disk image, allowing access to the files in the encrypted image from the Windows machine.

I haven't tried any experiments yet, but if anyone else has, I'd be interested in knowing if this will work, or if there's any way to make it work.

Thanks,

Ken

12 G4 PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.5.3), 1.125 Gb RAM

Posted on Nov 25, 2008 8:45 PM

Reply
1 reply

Nov 26, 2008 6:50 PM in response to Kenneth Hjulstrom

Hi,

I had some time today, so I figured it out myself. Here's an abbreviated description of what I did, should someone else ever want/need to do this:

1) Using Disk Utility, I created a new blank disk image, specifying a format of MS-DOS (FAT) and 128-bit AES encryption.
2) After creating the image, I then mounted it using the password I specified at the time the image was created.
3) I then went to the Sharing area of System Preferences, turned on File Sharing, and in the Shared Folders area, I added the mounted disk image as a new folder. I then set up appropriate user access permissions.
4) Clicking the "Options..." button in the Sharing area of System Preferences, I checked "Share files and folders using SMB", and enabled my user account for access.

After setting this up, I was then able to access my Mac from Windows Explorer on my Windows XP machine (the Mac required authentication on the Windows machine prior to granting access to files). Once I had been authenticated, I was able to read and write to the OS X encrypted disk image from my Windows machine. Keep in mind that Windows is not able to actually open the encrypted image; I had to mount the image on the Mac before Windows could access it. But this is exactly what I needed. Sensitive files can be securely maintained on my Mac, but easily be made accessible to Windows-only software.

Feel free to reply if you want additional details about setting this up.

Ken

Cross-platform access of encrypted disk images and/or files

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