# reshare shared folder



## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

hello,

i have a windows server 2008 rc2 file server. i connect it to my laptop via vpn and share the drives to it. 

i need to be able to share those drives from the laptop now, onto another device. 

any ideas?


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## Maz_- (Nov 4, 2008)

Just connect the 2nd device to your file server via VPN and share the drives.


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

I think he's wanting to connect a laptop to server via vpn, map network drives from the laptop to the server, then share those drives with another computer, presumably local to the laptop. The problem is you can't share a mapped network drive. Your only option would be to do as stated above, connect the new computer to the server and share the map the drives to it.


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

djaburg, you are correct. sadly, i do not think i will be able to put my second device onto the vpn. is there a work around? 

why cant i share a mapped drive? is that in the nature of the permissions on the server for how things are shared, or is it on my laptops end, and the OS (7 enterprise) wont allow a share of a network drive?

sorry for so many questions, and thanks for your answers


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

Yes the nature of permissions on the server IS to control how things are shared...but it only applies to entities on the server NOT from a remote computer trying to share it. Basically it boils down to the entire premise of security, a single source for security permissions and control. You're asking the server to allow YOU to determine what and who is secure instead of it. By it allowing YOU to share the resource it is relinquishing it's own control. This is by design and there's no real way around it. The best you could hope for would be to put a server locally to you and the other computer and have the server VPN the other server and use DFS to sync the files between the servers. That way, as long as both users on the remote side were valid domain users, you could both access files from the local server.


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

im not sure i completely follow you. i understand that the limitation is there for security, so people cannot share what you share endlessly. it is my server, and i should be able to control the permissions for how it shares though, if that is even possible. but im not sure what is preventing that.

in my mind, the problem can be at two places, either the server does not allow me the permission to share those files locally. i think you implied that this is not the case as it would be rather difficult to implement.

or the laptop os knows that they are shared files, and will not allow me to share them locally. this seems like a harder problem to overcome, but i am also asking questions just for my knowledge 

i am also a little confused, as your example is kind of what im trying to do. im trying to use my laptop as the local server and share off of that to another device. i dont have the resources to create a backup of the server however.

hows this for an idea? vpn to laptop, bridge the vpn to the ethernet, and connect that as the source for an AP? i dont know if i will go through all that though.


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

Basically you can't share a mapped network drive...period. That's the way the security works. I don't make the policy, I'm just letting you know how it works.


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

heh, alright. well, thanks for your help.


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

Don't misinterpret my response. Since I don't work for MS, I only work with MS products, I don't have all the answers and I'm just trying to prevent you from trying to do something the product wasn't designed to do.


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

oh, heh, thanks. i understand ;-) . and thanks for the help you could provide


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## Maz_- (Nov 4, 2008)

there are "dodgy" way around this. What you can do is use a 3rd party backup tools to backup the orignal share to a new share on the 2nd server.

So basically you create a new folder, get a tool copy all files every hour/every night and then share the copied files!!

If i was you i would do what everyone is suggesting and not make things tooo complicated.


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

maybe someday i can do that. untill then i dont have the resources. i think ive found a small way around the problem for now, but well see ;-)


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## Maz_- (Nov 4, 2008)

do share your way around this problem if it is something different to what we have suggested. Cheers!


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

Maz_- said:


> do share your way around this problem if it is something different to what we have suggested. Cheers!


well, its not as elegant or useful, but for now i installed an ftp server onto the 2nd device, so i can upload things to it from the laptop, including things from the mapped drives of the server on the vpn. 

i would still rather stream from the network :-\ oh well. well see what else i can come up with.


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

If it's a remote office you're dealing with, perhaps going about it differently could solve the issue. In a remote office setup, it might be a good idea to do a site to site VPN using VPN capable routers. This would allow everyone in both locations the ability to access computers and resources in both locations. I set one up between an office in san diego and an office in south dakota and as long as the internet speed was good, it was a very viable option. In fact they had a couple of users even using terminal services across the link and it was fine.


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

the thought crossed my mind, but it was dismissed immediately. this project is no where near the scale of an office, and as such, has none of the funds to have hardware like that. but thanks for the thought!


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## ianisthewalrus (Jun 1, 2008)

okay, ive found a real way around this. using p2p clients, i can share the network drives, and any other visible folder. 

i would still be interested if anyone got the windows sharing to work, but this is pretty good for now.


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