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Hello everyone,
I just noticed that on my computer, the guest account is able to read all the files on the entire computer (including other account's files). I'm sure that this is not right, but why is it doing that?
I'm using Windows XP pro, and I'm not connected to any domain.
Any ideas?
just disable the guest account if you don't need it... otherwise you can use EFS for important files...
also you can disable even more for the guest account with gpedit.msc
I don't think he's asking how to fix it, he's asking why it's doing that...
I have no clue....
When you create a new account in win xp it asks you "Do you want to keep your files private" or something along them lines, if you dont select this option i think that your files are readable to everyone but if you do select this option only you and administrators can view your files.
Even though the guest account can view your files they shouldt be able to alter them, if they can you have a serious security miss-setting somewhere!
Use the gpedit.msc feature as someone has already suggested and see what limitations are on the guest account.
if this is in order, select the individual accounts and make their folders/files private.
I seem to recall that the guest account ships with it set to 'disabled'
This would suggest that your settings have been adjusted ?
Unless you are just checking through your system ?
The guest account is seen as a problem, because it is there.........Why ?
It is an easier account to compromise, as it is not always checked as carefully as it should be. Any intruder, or 'guest', can see around your system. They might not be able to change anything, BUT, they can look around.
I would make sure that it is disabled, DO NOT use the deny button, until you are CERTAIN of what you will achieve, as the permission set up is 'least restrictive' applies to users,
and 'most restrictive' applies to groups.
[runs off to check]
Well although I don't have XP I have 2000 Pro and although I've never used the guest account (EVER) I think that it just can't access files on that users desktop or my documents folder. But in Win2000 (don't know about XP) you can set the file to only be access by one user or all users except Guest (right click+properties+security). Hope it helps
Ok I don't know what is wrong with my computer but I know this isn't right. I disabled the Guest account, and created another account called Guest1, and gave it "limited priviliges". Then, I logged onto it and I had full read/write access to the ENTIRE system. What the heck??
I did go into gpedit.msc, but I didn't know what to look for or disable, etc...
By default, the Guest account has the same access level as the Users group. There is no mistake. Look at the security tab on your files that the Guest account supposedly does not have access to and I bet you'll see "Users" in there.
If you are telling us that the Guest account has access to system files and other Administrative areas of the box, then certainly, someone has mucked around with your ACLs.
Ok, I'm lost. There is no security tab. Can someone give me a link to some sort of tutorial or website explaining this stuff so I can find out what's wrong?
You're hard disk is formatted with FAT32. Permissions can only be set on NTFS partitions. Either format your computer as NTFS and reinstall XP or use the convert command to change FAT32 to NTFS. Also, you will have to disable Simple File Sharing.
Cheers,
cgkanchi
You will get the definitive answer from here i suppose: http://support.microsoft.com you will have to search for information about the guest account yourself though.
Simple file sharing can be changed in explorer by going to tools/folder options, view: then deselect "use simple file sharing (recommended)"
I turned off simple file sharing, but that didn't do anything. So I converted my FAT32 system to NTFS, and that seemed to fix it. Thanks everyone for your help.
But that is still odd though, that other normal users on the system had full read/write access on the entire computer...(even though it was FAT32).