Okay this is going to take some time to read so bare with me. Okay, I have 6 computers in my house, 2 of which are laptops. I own 3 of the computers and one of the laptops. my mother the other laptop and my brother the other computer. First off, I have made my older computer the server. In which my internet comes into and distributes it across my network firewalled and anti virused. (I use Iolo System Mechanic, Firewall and Antivirus) Then there is my Main computer, laptop and Touch Screen HP that I use myself and are the sole user of. My mothers laptop has 3 users on it and my brothers computer just one. The server, my brothers and my Main computer are running Windows 7 (32bit), my laptop is running Vista (32bit), my Touch Smart HP is running Vista (64bit) and my mothers laptop XP Pro (32bit). Now, my server has a 1TB in it with my personal documents on it. (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos and Downloads are the folders on it) Now I would like to be able to network them so that I can set the defalt location for theses folders on my Main computer to the folders in the 1TB on my server. And also set the defalts on my laptop and Touch Smart to the same folders on the 1TB. But at the same time not let any other computer have access to these folders. (Cos I have alot of guest computers connect to my network that i do not want to allow access to) Also in the server is a 80GB which has been partitioned 4 times. each partition is for each other user in my network. the 3 users on my mothers laptop and the one on my brothers. I want to allow each of these users there own partiton and set the defalt of the doument folders (mentioned before) of these users to each partition respectivly. and make it so each user can only access there partition on the server HDD. Now giving that windows 7 is a pain when it comes to setting security, will i need to use the admin account on the computer. (this was one of my other problemes that i ran into that was fixed by people on this site) So on my Main Computer i have my normal user and a admin user. Both are admin accounts but for some reason only the ADMIN account can make system wide changes to windows files and security settings. (so i found out from the people on this site) Helping me solve this network nightmare would be a massive favour, for i have tried everything about networking that i know. I use to be able to do it with XP but now that i have multiple platforms and Different Bit processors it is proving more difficult. Thanks, Alucard

What OS is the server running?Honestly, it would be easiest if you ran Windows Home Server on it. You can download a 120-day trial, and see how it works out.Much easier to set share permissions in that OS, than it is to do it by hand. ;)Question: why the need to use the server as the router? For a lot of reasons, that's not highly recommended. Primarily that you're talking about keeping your personal data on a machine that's directly connected to the 'net.Routers make securing that a lot easier. ;)Redirecting user-profile folders to the server is easy: Right-click folder > Properties > location tab > enter full UNC path > Move > OK.Do not do this on a laptop that's running anything lower than XP Pro (or MCE2k5, or Tablet PC), or Vista Ultimate or Business, or Win7 (as the beta and RC are Ultimate.) Reason is that the 'home' versions lack Offline Files; as such, a lappy user that's not on the LAN will find themselves without their data. :(HTH,Chris[If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

The Server is running Windows 7 RC. Where would i find Windows home server and is it a windows 7 based OP or is it XP? My internet comes into my house via a modem router, from there it comes into my sever, and from there it is distruibuted across the network. I have re-directed folders before but when i do this, the computer im on needs to have permission to access these folders on the sever first. This is what im having problems with. I can just share it with everyone but then that defeats the purpose of me trying to make it so only my computers have access to them files. cos as i stated i have guests that come around and connect themselfs to my network and i dont want to allow them to see the files.

Hello Vlad,Does your server machine have a user account for every user in your network? When running a stand-alone server in a workgroup/homegroup setting the machine hosting the data needs a user account with a password for each user since the server wouldn't know the user connecting in. Chris's suggestion makes more sense in this scenario as you could set your server to be a Domain Controller and thereby set all user permissions, profiles, shares and paths from one console in the server. This would save hours of administrative tasks.-Scott

So, I need to make identical user accounts on my server and then attach each user to there folders and partitions respectivly? and if that is so, i tried doing that with just my server and main computer. I set the folder "Documents" on my server to allow the user Alucard (A user account I made identical to the one on my Main computer) to access files in the folder and change them (so full control) but went i went back to my main computer it said "User account restricted" when i tried to access said folder? I must be doing something wrong here? I cant seem to figure it out???

Hello Vlad,A few things Iwould check, did you log onto the server with this identical account to activate the new account. Also is the authenticated users group also given permissions to the folder? Are Sharing and NTFS permissions set respectively?-Scott