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Monitor network access to shared (and not shared!) files (Windows Vista)

01/09/2009 9:02 AM

I am running Windows Vista on an office network. I have a few folders shared, e.g. so I can share photos with others in the office that are in them, without sending large emails.

How do I monitor who is accessing the shared files? There are others in the office with no interest in; or rights to; the photos that I suspect are browsing my shared folders. I know I can restrict the browsing rights by user, but it is a pain to add 10 share permissions, and it is also too late; I want to see what has happened in the past.

I also need to see if network users are attempting to browse to other folders.

Ideally, I would like a system report of:

- Date/Time
- Remote IP and/or computer name
- Remote user
- Files/Directories attempted but failed access
- Files/Directories successfully accessed
- Actions; e.g. Read, copied to remote machine, deleted

Thanks.

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Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: New York
Posts: 575
Good Answers: 16
#1

Re: Monitor network access to shared (and not shared!) files (Windows Vista)

01/09/2009 9:56 AM

Windows has a built in feature called Auditing which tracks access to folders, logons and a lot of other things. One annoying this is this can track so many actions that it can be tough to wade through the ones you don't care about. (I think there are ways to only monitor certain actions). Check the link below.

http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2006/12/04/auditing-in-vista-part-i/

There are also many 3rd party software packages which do similar things. I haven't used any of these so I really can't tell you which is better but I'm sure you could search for some reviews.

http://monitor-folder-activity.qarchive.org/

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