Sharing only ONE folder with the network...but mac os x allows windows to see all drives

Right click on the folder you want to share and select Get Info.

At the bottom is the sharing and permissions. You will likely

have to unlock (icon in lower right) and enter your admin

name and password.

You may also want to go to System Preferences and Sharing. Select

File Sharing (obviously check to enable) and then click the options

button on the right. Check the box for SMB sharing.

Try disabling file sharing on your Mac, and then go to the Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences > SystemConfiguration folder and remove the file called "com.apple.smb.server.plist." Then try re-enabling file sharing to see if that helps the situation at all.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:

defaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server AllowGuestAccess | open -f -a TextEdit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Post the contents of that window, if any — the text, please, not a screenshot.

A couple of questions:

1. Is your Mac a member of a domain (Active Directory or Open Directory) where you can use the same user credentials on any Mac on the network?

2. Have you specifically enabled Windows file sharing by clicking the "Options" button in the File Sharing system preferences and enabling access for specific users (this will require you to enter that user's password)?

If not, then you can create a sharing-only user on your system (done in the Users & Groups system preferences) and then only enable that user for Windows file sharing, then configure share point privileges with this user and require others to connect using this account. If your computer is controlled by a domain, then there may be some domain-based sharing policy at play here that's overriding your system's configuration.

kalpan17 wrote:

coz when i try to use imac threw windows pc they ask me to enter user name and password and as i have only one use name (Admin) i enter that and its started showing all the files folder and drives to windows.

This is the normal and secure behavior of the system. Your account is given access to the system through File Sharing because it normally has access at the login prompt. When you log in, you are able to access the hard drive, your user account, public folders of other users, and any attached hard drives. Therefore, when you log in via the network you are granted access to these resources so you can get to your data.

This was only granted to you because you logged in with your admin password. If you had logged in otherwise then you would have been given access to the system in a more restricted way. If you had not provided a proper password (admin or otherwise) then the system would not have logged you in at all.

Try not providing a password and see if you can access your files by simply pressing Enter at the network password prompt, or by entering the name "Guest" or otherwise. When doing this, access to your system should be restricted, and at most only allow you to see the "Public" folder of your account through the network.

In System Preferences, select Users & Groups. Once there

create a new user and in the dropdown menu of the dialog

box select "Sharing Only". Then other users will connect

via this account and password. Then, set the sharing

priveleges on those folders you wish to share.

For obvious reasons, if you connect to the Mac remotely

using an admin account, you will see everything as the

connection will have admin rights.

...and if i enter my admin user name (as admin account is not password protected) only it connect with mac.

This is your problem. To ensure proper protection you need to secure your admin account with a password. Without this then anyone can connect as admin and access not only your data but that of any other user.

If you do not want to enter a password at the login window then you can set the system to save your password and automatically log in. While this will allow anyone to log in when physically at your computer, when connecting over the network people will still be required to supply the proper password.

The shared "Public" folders are the default shares that are available to guest users (and anyone else that is granted access to your computer), but in addition to this the system will share resources the specified user already has access to. This is the home folder of the user as well as the root of each secondary hard drive. For admins this also includes the boot drive.

As it stands, anyone can connect to your Mac and enter the Admin username, and then immediately get access. Setting a password will block this.

If a Windows profile has the same name and password as an account on the server with access to the sharepoint, the Windows client will also have access without having to enter a password.