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I recently purchased a computer with the intention of using it as network-attached storage. It presently has no Windows password and only one account.

Can I create two different shares (share two different folders) in different ways -- make one publicly accessible, and make another only visible to people with a certain username/password combination?

Creating multiple users isn't a problem, I just can't figure out where to start within Windows.

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Windows (unlike Linux) does not use a special accounts database for SMB access (TDSAM), and instead uses the user accounts password for all smb operations.

for each username/password you wish to expose shares for, you will have to create a local windows user account. then you can allow the share only to that user. you can use Control Panel -> Users or 'compmgmt.msc' to create users.

like Linux, SMB permissions stack on top of File System permissions, so for your authenticated share: 1) create the user, and set its password 2) assign the folder the appropriate permissions for the user 3) create the share, and allow the user the appropriate permissions.

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    To make the process slightly easier, you can make a group in Windows and allow the group to have access. The group needs to exist before setting up the share, but that way they don't need to manually add users to the system and the share. FWIW.
    – nerdwaller
    Jun 30, 2013 at 23:21

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