Re: XP Pro "search" feature seems to ignore file permissions

From: G.J. (gauss.jordan_at_gmail.com)
Date: 11/10/04


Date: 10 Nov 2004 07:45:27 -0800


"siljaline" <siljaline@nospam.com> wrote in message news:<OnaHxwVxEHA.3808@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl>...
> "G.J." wrote:
> > Hi Guys, I'm messing with settings in my brand new machine, as was
> > wondering why it seems that XP Pro's "search" feature ignores folder
> > permissions. For example, I have a user named "user1." If I create a
> > folder and give him full control of it and deny full control to all
> > other users on the machine, I'm still able to "search" and see file
> > names and directory structures that should be off limits.
> >
> >
> > It just occured to me that maybe this is because I'm checking with my
> > administrator account, but I explicitly denied administrator
> > permissions as well.
> >
> > As a sidenote: I'm running Windows XP Professional, SP2 w/ the latest,
> > greatest hotfixes (as of November 7th).
> >
> > Any ideas?
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308418
>
> Hope this helps.
> Silj
>
> --
> siljaline
>
> MS - MVP Windows (IE/OE) 2003/04 AH-VSOP
> ________________________________________
> Security Tools Updates
> http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=31
>
> (Reply to group, as return address
> is invalid - that we may all benefit)

Silj,

Many thanks! I actually am familiar with Windows NT-style file /
directory permissions as a so-called "power user," I suppose -- I've
never had formal training aside from a degree in computer engineering,
which isn't even remotely applicable to windows administration. I
failed to mention my familiarity with the technology. Whoops.

Anyway, The permissions I've got set are that a single user has full
permissions, and that all other groups (including administrators) have
been *denied* full permissions.

Oh, and I turned off the "indexing" service by the way.

Also of note, I turned off the "traversal checking" security policy
for all users experimentally -- in theory that's going to affect other
behaviors of my machine according to a foreboding warning the security
policy editor had built-in, so I'll probably change that back.

What's curious is that with these settings, as my administrator
account, I can't open my secured folder -- it gives me an access
denied message. That's good. However, if I choose to "search" and
specify the folder as the location I want to search, it'll kindly
report back the full directory structure and file names to me, which
may or may not be a problem for others.

Any clues?
G.J.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: User Account Suddenly Unaccessable
    ... Revert to the original profile folder. ... Log on as administrator ... The Sharing tab has "Do not share this folder" checked, and the rest of the tab has no data. ... In the middle section none of the "permissions" categories have any checkmarks - no marks in allow, ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: Do not have accessibility to change certain file names
    ... ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. ... you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. ... Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.accessibility)
  • Re: User Account Suddenly Unaccessable
    ... Revert to the original profile folder. ... Log on as administrator ... The Sharing tab has "Do not share this folder" checked, and the rest of the tab has no data. ... In the middle section none of the "permissions" categories have any checkmarks - no marks in allow, ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: User Account Suddenly Unaccessable
    ... Modify the registry so that it points at the correct folder. ... - Log on as administrator ... The Sharing tab has "Do not share this folder" checked, ... In the middle section none of the "permissions" categories have any ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: Access Denied: backed-up Documents and SettingsUser
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    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.accessibility)