Windows – How to set a shared folder to ask for a password every time it’s accessed

windowswindows-server-2008windows-vista

Scenario:

  • Public computer with scanner attached.
  • Client computers with 'My Documents\Scanned Documents' shared but password protected.
  • Public computer has a shortcut to each users 'Scanned Documents' folder.
  • At Public computer, user scans a document and it creates a file on the desktop.
  • User moves the scanned file from the desktop to their private shared folder.

Question:
How do I configure the shared folder so it asks for the password every time it's accessed?
Bonus points: How do I set permissions on the shared folder to reset after X minutes of inactivity. In other words, instead of asking for a password every time, ask for a password if X minutes have passed since last being accessed.

We use Windows Server 2008 and Vista clients. Thanks.

Best Answer

You're making this overly complicated in the name of trying to be "simple". What you're going to end up with is something that works poorly.

Just have the users logon to the "public computer" with their domain username / password and be done with it. If you're worried about their roaming profiles coming over to the "public computer" use group policy to allow only local profiles. If you're worried about consistency for the user experience on the PC use loopback group policy processing to enforce some consistent look-and-feel settings.

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