bonjour networking and sharing folders

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Level 2

321 points

bonjour networking and sharing folders

ok two questions

1. I have an imac and mbp, both with leopard 10.5.6. I have them both logged in to bonjour and can transfer files. My brother has a mbp, if he logs into bonjour can he see me and can he access my, or give me, files? if yes, how can I stop this, or how do i find out if he can or not? I only want my two macs to see eachother, and to be able to see other computers, if I so choose.

2. I have both computers hooked up with firewire. In order to see all the contents of each computer from the other, I have to share the entire HD from the sharing pane in system preferences. Is there any other way of doing it? I appreciate I need my admin password to get read write access, but again, can I make it only so that the two computers can see each other? in this case I do not need to see other computers by firewire and most certainly do not want anyone else to be able to see my entire HD's, with or without read write access, even if you need a password...

My brother is a bit of a genius when it comes to this, but he is also incredibly nosey, so if I were to ask him to do it, he'd take advantage of the control of my computer for the short time he has it, and make sure he can always see my computer...

Oh, I have Mobile Me if its any help

Regards

 24" iMac 2.8 Ghz 2GB  15" Late 2008 MBP 2.53 Ghz 4GB , Mac OS X (10.5.6),  External WD 250GB My Book Studio 500GB Seagate 160GB  White 16GB iPhone 3G 

Posted on Dec 18, 2008 2:24 PM

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Answer 1

alex.lyons Author

Level 2

321 points

Dec 19, 2008 8:43 AM in response to alex.lyons

anyone?

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Answer 2

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Dec 19, 2008 9:30 AM in response to alex.lyons

I have them both logged in to bonjour

Just to clarify some terminology, you don't "log into Bonjour", per se. Bonjour is just a way that your computer can see and connect to other network devices without you having to know that device's network address.

My brother has a mbp, if he logs into bonjour can he see me and can he access my, or give me, files?

He can see your computer, but if you don't have file sharing turned on, or restrict what users can connect to your shared folder(s), then he can't access your system to download or upload files.

if yes, how can I stop this, or how do i find out if he can or not?

System preferences -> Sharing -> click on File Sharing. Look at the section labeled Shared Folders. That will show what you have shared and who can connect to it. If the only name shown is yourself, then unless your brother knows your Mac OS X account name and password, then he will not be able to connect to your systems.

2. I have both computers hooked up with firewire. In order to see all the contents of each computer from the other, I have to share the entire HD from the sharing pane in system preferences. Is there any other way of doing it?

Unless it's different for Firewire, which it may be (I don't have two systems here to test), the access should work as per above.

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Answer 3

alex.lyons Author

Level 2

321 points

Dec 19, 2008 9:38 AM in response to varjak paw

ok Dave that's helpful! I went into the sharing pane and under users on the bottom right, it says everyone has read only access and I can only change it to either read only or read and write. I would prefer to change it either write only or ideally no access. Both options are greyed out...

Thanks so far

Regards

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Answer 4

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Dec 19, 2008 10:35 AM in response to alex.lyons

Is the system preference unlocked (lock icon at the lower-left)? If not, click on it and enter in your password (presuming your user has administrator privileges). You should then be able to modify the settings or "Everyone" to "No Access".

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Answer 5

alex.lyons Author

Level 2

321 points

Dec 19, 2008 10:41 AM in response to varjak paw

eh yea its unlocked, I can change it from read only to read and write nut no access and write only (drop box) are grayed out.. I tried the get info pane for macintosh HD but when i tried changing everyone to no access, some error came up but I didn't get a chance to look at it. I have a feeling if everyone has no access, that will include me, as the only user..

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Answer 6

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Dec 19, 2008 12:16 PM in response to alex.lyons

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, start tinkering with the permissions in the Get Info pane for your hard drive! You're very likely to lock yourself out of your own drive, as you fear. The ONLY place you should be attempting to change permissions for access via file sharing, unless you know exactly what you're doing, is in the Sharing system preference. If that's not working correctly, we need to figure out why.

What folders are showing as being shared in the Sharing system preference?

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Answer 7

alex.lyons Author

Level 2

321 points

Dec 19, 2008 2:41 PM in response to varjak paw

ok cool, wont touch that!

The folders that are listed as shared are:
Macintosh HD
and my public folder.

The users are:
System administrator - Read and write (can be changed to read only or write only drop box)
Administrators - Read and write (can be changed to read only or write only drop box)
Everyone - Read Only (can be changed to read and write, Write only drop box and no access are grayed out)

Ideally I'd like nobody to be able to do anything to Macintosh HD without a password. read or write. I do not want people to be able to see all my files, regardless if they can read them or not. Having my entire HD open like that does not make me happy.

I couldn't care about the public folder.

Anything else I can add to make things easier for you??

Would it be easier to use a third party program (preferably free)?

Regards

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Answer 8

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Dec 19, 2008 3:07 PM in response to alex.lyons

It's because you have the entire hard drive shared. That's not really necessary and not a good idea from a security standpoint. I don't know for sure why you can't share the entire drive and remove the permissions from Everyone, but it does the same for me. Remove that drive from Sharing and, if you want access to all your user's files, add your user's home folder. Then you can set Everyone to "no access".

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Answer 9

alex.lyons Author

Level 2

321 points

Dec 19, 2008 3:13 PM in response to varjak paw

ok cool got that working and its all good.
One more quick question, when I select my users folder in the preference pane, in the users section (where i changed everyone to no access) there is now a users option (as apposed to the administrators when Macintosh HD was shared) what exactly is this users option? is it other users of the computer? or what?

oh, i'll give you a a few stars when were done

Regards

Message was edited by: alex.lyons

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Answer 10

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Dec 20, 2008 3:34 PM in response to alex.lyons

That's a standard group that includes all registered users on your computer, the one that's being shared. It will appear as an option in file sharing whenever you have more than one user account created.

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Answer 11

alex.lyons Author

Level 2

321 points

Dec 20, 2008 3:50 PM in response to varjak paw

ok seems like it just appears anyway because I have only one user account and its still there.
Thanks for everything

Happy Holidays

Regards

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