Member of Administrators Account Can'tAccessOthers'Folders

GordonRD

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Location
Vancouver Island
I have an Asus desktop computer and an Asus notebook computer both running Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit) and a Dell notebook computer running Windows XP Pro (32-bit) with disk drives and user accounts configured the same way on all machines. My account is a member of the Administrators Group. On each PC I created data folders for each user account on a large hard disk (D). For each folder I set Modify permissions for the user account and Full permissions for the Administrators Group using the process shown in your "Option 3 - Advanced Security Properties".
The file system correctly allows access to each data folder to the user account which has permission and blocks access to all other standard user accounts. The Windows 8.1 file system does not allow my account to access any of the folders belonging to other users on either Asus PC, whereas the Dell PC had and still has no problem allowing my account to access all shares on it.
The only way I could get access to any shared folders on another Windows 8.1 PC was to make the following settings in "Control Panel | Network and Sharing Center | Advanced sharing settings":
- Private automatic network discovery: On.
- Private File & printer sharing: On.
- Private HomeGroup connections: Use user accounts & passwords...
- Guest network discovery: Off.
- Guest file & printer sharing: On.
- All networks public folder sharing: On.
- All networks media streaming: All networks - allowed; All libraries or folders except "Documents" - shared.
- All networks file sharing connections: Use 128-bit encryption...
- Password protected sharing: Off.
Is there any way to allow a member of the Administrators Group on the Windows 8.1 Pro computers to access all shared folders on the network as was allowed by Windows XP Pro?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit) with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus CG8270
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3770
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
This query is getting lots of views but no-one has been brave enough to take a stab at helping me to resolve this conundrum. Does anyone in the Microsoft world know how to get Windows 8.1 network shares working properly, or even what the company now considers "properly" to be? In addition to the above problem, standard users are not able to access folders on another Win-8 machine which have "Modify" permission for that user. Members of the Administrators group cannot access other users' folders on the same or on another Win-8 machine, even when they are given "Full Control" permission.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit) with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus CG8270
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3770
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
This query is getting lots of views but no-one has been brave enough to take a stab at helping me to resolve this conundrum. Does anyone in the Microsoft world know how to get Windows 8.1 network shares working properly, or even what the company now considers "properly" to be? In addition to the above problem, standard users are not able to access folders on another Win-8 machine which have "Modify" permission for that user. Members of the Administrators group cannot access other users' folders on the same or on another Win-8 machine, even when they are given "Full Control" permission.

Maybe you can figure out the problem by reading through the following link which explains how NTFS permissions work. It's a rather complicated subject.
Share Permissions and NTFS Permissions Folder Access Control & Folder Permissions - AD and Exchange Quantum Singularity

You can also set up a Homegroup between the Windows 8 machines and there is a method to make those Library's accessible from other Windows machines like XP.
How do I make Windows 7 HomeGroup content accessible to Vista and XP? - TechRepublic.

I'm not completely sure why the Admin account would lose access to the standard users shares but there is a reason for this and I wouldn't expect Windows 8 to behave like XP in this case, the file system has been changed considerably since the XP days.

If you don't mess with the NTFS permissions then Windows 8 has no access problems at all, in fact the entire Users folder is shared out by default.

Turning on Network Discovery and File and Printer sharing is standard procedure in order to make shared folders available to other networked machines.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
- All networks file sharing connections: Use 128-bit encryption...

Well, at a guess, I would start there. I think you will find that XP has no idea what 128-bit encryption looks like so it sends what it can. :) Try the "...40- or 56-bit," option in All Networks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V5
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    6GB
    Hard Drives
    240GB Sandisk SSD
    Internet Speed
    4G/LTE
Brink, I've already followed the procedure outlined in your excellent tutorial (have been using the same procedure since Win-XP). I have created shared folders for each user on a data drive. For all of these shares I allowed Full Control permission for the Administrators group as well as for each individual administrator. I also allowed Change permission for each individual to his/her own data folders. The system blocks access from each Win-8 PC to that user's data folders on the other Win-8 PC, but not to the user's folders on the Win-XP machine. All 3 PCs have the same share/permission and user account setup.

Chev65, I will respond to your comments after completing the reading that you suggested.

CarvedDuck, the access between the Win-8 PCs is causing the problem; the access to the Win-XP shares from the Win-8 PCs is working fine. This is exactly the opposite of what you expected, I believe. Is this correct?

Thanks for the feedback. It is very much appreciated, especially because this is looking more like a Win-8 bug with each passing day.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit) with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus CG8270
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3770
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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