Windows 2003 as a simple file server

[romerz]

Hi,

What we had before were loads of windows xp machines with shared folders, these folders were shared with everyone and apeared in everyones my network places. Simple enough.

We have a server with windows 2003 running on it. Its running as a DHCP server aswell.

What I want to do is simple - use it as a file server. I dont have it running as a domain and active directory is not running either. I have a folder on the C:/ called Files. Ive shared this folder with everyone. Set share permissons to everyone and gave them full control.

Is there any way to get this folder to show on all the XP machines on the network? Ive tried even going to add a network place on the XP machines however in the workgroup - I can find SERVER, but with no shared folders that come from it. The only way I can connect is by going to \\server\Files and putting in the Admin username and password.

Am I able to do what im wanting to do with a workgroup - I really can't go around all the machines and change their computer names to Administrator and give them the same password as the server (I assume this is how I would get round this (though this would mean I would need to manually go around ever computer adding the shared place)).

Do I need to create a domain and user active directory. I don't know much about either of these. If this is the case, would anyone be kind enough to link me a tutorial on this, or even give me some tips.

I find it odd to believe that something so simple and useful that windows XP can do, windows server 2003 is unable to do.

[nmX.Memnoch]

For "Everyone" to work you'd have to enable Guest access...which is something that's (rightly) disabled by default in Server 2003. Using "Everyone" is a big "no no" and it's what used to be people into security trouble back in the day (when it was the default NTFS permission under NT 3.51/4.0).

Why not just finish the setup and start yourself an Active Directory? It's not that difficult...you already have the server running and it probably wouldn't take much more planning to configure AD, join all the machines and create user accounts for everyone. You can use the User State Migration Tool to migrate their local profile to their domain profile.

Well...before we get too much into that...how many machines and users are we talking about?

[romerz]

Thanks for the reply.

We have the windows 2003 machine, and around 15 XP Machines.

The reason I didn't go into AD is because I don't know enough about it. I have been reading up on it tonight however. Am I correct in assuming that I can add the 'Machine' to AD? So say one computer's computer name is 'XPMACHINE1' - Would I then be able to add this machine in AD under the 'Users and Computers' section, share the folder with that machine - and the machine would then be able to see it in 'My Network Places' - or am I missing key steps (My machine is currently on WORKGROUP. With AD it would then swap over to a domain called Server.whatever.local or whatever I name it). Each machine just assumes that is its own stand alone machine by the way. They have never been set up as a workstation or anything (not sure if this is needed for a domain)

Would I then have to do anything with the domain?

This process you describe of basically importing the machines profile sounds like it may be good, if it doesn't end up the same as me just adding the machine to the Users and Computers.

Would the process ive made an asumption at above be anywere close to getting the shared folder apearing in the machines network places?

Edited November 7, 2007 by romerz

[nmX.Memnoch]

You're headed in the right direction with some of your thoughts about AD but you are missing a few steps. First you'd have to make the Server 2003 box a domain controller. That's a fairly simple process and since you only have the one server and handful of workstations there shouldn't be anything overly complicated in the network design.

Definitely do a bit more reading before you jump into setting up AD though. While it isn't difficult, it can be a bit daunting the first time or two. Be prepared to spend a little time configuring the server. You want to make absolutely sure that's right before you start adding computer and user accounts to the domain.

As for adding the computers to the domain, you're sort of correct. What you'd do is go to My Computer Properties (right click My Computer and choose Properties), then go to the Computer Name tab. From there you should see a Change button. Click that button. At the bottom you'll see two options under Member of; Domain and Workgroup. Right now you're on Workgroup. But after you setup AD you'll want to change that to Domain. In the Domain box, type either then NetBIOS name (i.e. domain) or the full domain name (i.e. domain.local). It'll ask you for a username/password that has authentication to join computers to the domain (the Administrator account or another account that has been given Domain Admin privileges).

After you've done that, you'll need to create user accounts in Active Directory using the Active Directory Users and Computers snapin.

The User State Migration Tool will come into play when you get ready to have your users start logging onto the domain instead of with their current local accounts. It should allow you to copy their local account profiles to the new domain profile (on the workstation) so that it looks fairly transparent to them. Honestly, I know all of the details on USMT since I don't have much first-hand experience with it...everything I've done since it was released has been straight to a domain model instead of a workgroup model.

But...definitely keep reading and try to plan out as much as you can. There are plenty of smart people here who can help with recommendations on how you should or shouldn't setup your domain. Personally, I am of the opinion that you should definitely be looking at a domain model since you already have what's necessary to start.

[romerz]

Thanks again for your quick reply,

Im having a good look around, trying to gather all of the information that I can. One thing that most places seem to be lacking in, are the steps in which to make the actual XP Machines log into the domain. What would I be changing on the XP machines in order to make them part of the domain?

Also, just to clarify, the end result in this would be the users not noticing any difference or anything complex, they just login to their machines and the shared folders are in their network files section. Is this correct ?

Thanks again for not only the info, but the quick info

[nmX.Memnoch]

Im having a good look around, trying to gather all of the information that I can. One thing that most places seem to be lacking in, are the steps in which to make the actual XP Machines log into the domain. What would I be changing on the XP machines in order to make them part of the domain?

I addressed that part in my previous reply. See the quote below.

As for adding the computers to the domain, you're sort of correct. What you'd do is go to My Computer Properties (right click My Computer and choose Properties), then go to the Computer Name tab. From there you should see a Change button. Click that button. At the bottom you'll see two options under Member of; Domain and Workgroup. Right now you're on Workgroup. But after you setup AD you'll want to change that to Domain. In the Domain box, type either then NetBIOS name (i.e. domain) or the full domain name (i.e. domain.local). It'll ask you for a username/password that has authentication to join computers to the domain (the Administrator account or another account that has been given Domain Admin privileges).

Also, just to clarify, the end result in this would be the users not noticing any difference or anything complex, they just login to their machines and the shared folders are in their network files section. Is this correct ?

Well, to make it mostly transpart will take some work on your part. As far as I know there's no way to make it 100% transparent. There will be some minor changes for them, but it shouldn't be anything complex or complicated. For instance, you'll have to create their domain account, set a temporary password, and flag the account to "Change password at next logon". Give them the temporary password and when they login the first time they'll be required to set a new password. Other than that, the USMT is what you'll use to copy their user settings into the new user profile (and by that, I mean the structure under the "Documents and Settings" folder on each machine).

As for adding the share to each user's logon, you can do that several ways. You can either setup a basic logon script to map the share to a drive letter each time they logon, or you can manually map the share one time with a persistent map. Personally, I recommend just using a logon script so you can automatically add new shares as necessary. One step at a time though.

Edited November 8, 2007 by nmX.Memnoch

[Idontwantspam]

Once you have actually joined the computers to the domain, as per nmX.Memnoch's instructions, the logon dialog will change from the welcome screen to a logon dialog like this:

The users will have to type in their username and password, and can select from the drop down box whether they'd like to log on to the domain or log on locally. You'll want to let people know their new username/password and how to log on, and perhaps removing their old local account would be good, too.

Also, if there are users who will be using multiple machines, you can set up roaming profiles, or you can map their documents folder to a network location and assign it a network drive. For example, you could set user1 to connect Z:\ to \\SERVER1\files\user1 or set all users to have their documents stored at \\SERVER1\files\%username%. %username% should be automatically replaced with their logon username when windows searches for the location.