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I've a long-standing problem that is getting me down. My home network has three computers:

  • Server - Windows Home Server 2011
  • PC Windows 7 Professional
  • Mediacentre Windows 7 Home Premium

The server has a small SSD boot drive and a large drive used for media files. I want all network users to have full read/write access to the shared drive in the server, regardless of location or account type.

Easy? Not a bit of it.

When I initially set the server up I tried configuring it as instructed (workgroup not domain, and with Homegroup enabled) but ran into many permission problems. I've tried assigning full control to everyone at the drive and folder level but that doesn't seem to work.

I set the Library settings for all network users to use only the Share folders on the server. Media Player, DLNA clients etc. use this location only for media.

In the server dashboard I've set the user account sharing settings for all users to read/write.

I tried adding the remote users into Group Policy (in which I'm definitely no expert) but the remote resources aren't listed so I can't add them.

Basically, all users can browse and read files from the Share but can't create or modify them.

I've gotten round this by always saving new files to the Public folder on the server and then remote into the server to manually move them into the correct folders so other users can see them properly.

Can anyone decipher what I might be doing wrong in this situation?

Edit:

As suggested by harrymc, here is a breakdown of the user accounts etc.

Server

Account           Role             Notes
Administrator     Administrator
John              Standard         RDP enabled, otherwise standard account
TV                Standard         Created only to try and overcome the problems

PC

Account           Role             Notes
Admin             Administrator    Never logged in
John              Standard         Used 90% of the time
Janet             Standard

Mediacentre

Account           Role             Notes
Admin             Administrator    Never logged in
TV                Standard         Login used by all users for TV, media etc.
John              Standard

Permissions for Share are set to allow Full Control for all accounts (Everyone, HomeUsers, John, TV and Guest).

In the Server Dashboard I've added the TV and John accounts and given them full read/write permissions to all shared folders and libraries.

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  • It would help us to know about the involved accounts on all your network computers, as well as the accounts and permissions on the underlying Server folder and the permissions on the share (these are two different things). Have you tried not using Homegroup? – harrymc Sep 11 '13 at 7:19
  • I've added some more detail. Is there anything else I should list? – Lunatik Sep 12 '13 at 8:19
  • Yes : details of your use (or not) of Homegroup, and whether you use Simple File Sharing aka Sharing Wizard. – harrymc Sep 12 '13 at 9:35
  • Yes, Homegroup in enabled I presume I'm using simple file sharing as I didn't use a wizard. As you may gather I'm not a huge expert in all of this, having always managed to get home devices to do pretty much what I wanted in the past. I must be doing something stupid here though. Thanks for your time. – Lunatik Sep 12 '13 at 12:58
  • You say "saving new files to the Public folder", this means that you're copying them onto the server? Copy one in there, then remote in and check the Owner of the file before you move it (properties / security / advanced / Owner) and the Public folder itself. This may give a clue. When you connect to the share from your PC does it prompt for username and password? Is it mapped (on the client) as a shared drive? (e.g. S: or something). – GregHNZ Sep 12 '13 at 22:40
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Do you really want to use windows server? I think there are more simpler solutions out there. Like freeNAS and here is a simple tutorial to install it: this Also you can add more programs to it after

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  • A valid point, but I chose WHS because of backup and other reasons. As it is in place and (sort of) working I 'd prefer to just resolve these issues. If I can't get things sorted though, FreeNAS is of course an option. – Lunatik Sep 14 '13 at 17:58

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