Tech Support Guy banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Files in my user account can be accessed from guest user account in VISTA

4K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  TheOutcaste 
#1 ·
My folders and files in C:/users/myname/ can be viewed and accessed from the Guest user account. How do I stop this?
 
#3 ·
It is odd that the Guest account would have access to the data of another user. It is possible that some how the "Everyone" group may have been added to the control list of your user folder, or that the Guest account was added to the local Administrators group. If that is the case, then this would explain why the Guest account *** access to your data.

I would check the DACL of your user profile folder and the group membership of the Guest account. If this proves ineffective, I would disable the Guest account, delete the user profile folder and then re-enable it.
 
#4 ·
switchbladecross is on the right track.
At some point while in the Guest account, you granted them access to your user folder. When you do that, it's permanent, not just for that session. When you grant access, that user gets added to the permissions list.

Just remove the Guest account from the permissions list on your user folder.
Best to do this from the account you want to remove Guest access from.

There will be some UAC prompts, just continue.
Navigate to C:\Users\Username, where Username is the name of your user folder.
Right click the folder, click Properties
Click the Security tab. (If you are signed in with another account, you'll need to click Continue to gain access to the Security tab)
If needed, click Edit under the list of names.
Highlight Guest, Double check that it's Guest that is highlighted, and click Remove.
You'll get a series of error pop ups, Error Applying Security on various folders, just click Continue.
Click OK back to the desktop.
When you return to the Security tab, the Guest account may still be shown. It won't be removed from the list until you re-open the properties window.

Something to keep in mind when granting permissions.

HTH

Jerry
 
#5 ·
All - Thanks for your help.

I created a new standard user account and it does not show the files in my user account.

I recall now that I was in the guest account and wanted to see a file in my user account. So I granted access to my user account. It never occurred to me that access might be permanent, and not be just for that session.

I was also able to remove access to my user account in my original guest account by using the procedure posted by Jerry. BTW, Jerry, thanks for the detailed description and the heads-up about "Error Applying Security" pop ups.

I also want to restrict access to some applications to just my account. I assume this can be done with some variation of the procedure posted by Jerry, but I have not found the right path yet. Any guidance would be appreciated.
 
#6 ·
If the program appears on the Start Menu for all users, you can move it's Program Group folder so it only appears on your account. Won't stop anyone from creating a new shortcut though, or starting the program directly, but out of sight is sometimes all that's needed.

Easy to block standard users, just remove the Users and Authenticated Users from the permissions list. Standard users can't take ownership or change permissions, so that will effectively block them.

I haven't found a way to prevent other Computer Administrator accounts from accessing an item, as it seems they can always take ownership of an object. Even denying the Take Ownership right to the Administrators group on an object doesn't seem to work. So you can make it difficult to access a file/folder, but not impossible.

Hopefully someone else has an easy answer.

Jerry
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top