Sharing BIBLIO on a LAN (Local Area Network) using Windows XP

Practical cases
Lets suppose there are 2 types of users who need to access remotely (through a different
computer on a LAN) to Library DB (Database). These users are referred to as Librarian and
Student.
Lets also suppose a simpler case, in which only Student need to access remotely, to a
centralized Library DB.
Also, you have 2 different types of computers:

Librarian computer, where Library DB is shared.

(this computer is referred to as SERVER)
And the rest of computers to make searches on a LAN
(these computers are referred to as Clients)

Different users
BIBLIO is thought to be used, by Librarian and Student, with different access levels, in any of the
following cases:
1.- Librarian and Student shared the SERVER, the computer where the Library DB is.
It is not recommended, but it is possible.
2.- Librarian uses the SERVER and Student can access to it to make searches about Library data,
t hrough other computers on a LAN (Clients)
3.- Librarian and Student share the same Client on a LAN so that:
When a Librarian uses a Client computer can make modifications on the SERVER. This situation
allows several Librarians, at the same time, to add new items from several computers (from
SERVER and from other Clients).
When Student use a Client computer, they can only make searches.on SERVER.

Different versions of Windows

With Windows 98, security and folder sharing on a LAN, was very easy and was based on
passwords. That it, a folder could have different access passwords depending on the users who
wanted to use it. According to the password, a user could be granted access, just to read
information (Student) or to modify information (Librarian).
With Windows XP, security systems becomes more powerful on networked computers on a LAN
(and therefore, the complexity to configure them). Now, security and shared folder access are not
defined by passwords, like in Windows 98, but by the privileges that each user has in their
accounts. Therefore, the possibility to work from BIBLIO with remote computer data (SERVER)
means to configure properly, every single computer on a LAN (This was not necessary with
Windows 98).

Requirements to share folders and grant privileges with Windows XP

First of all, you must be confident that
your Windows XP system is on an NTFS
formatted hard disk. (it used to be usual).
It is possible, in some cases, to find a
hard disk not formatted with NTFS and
still keeping Windows 95/98 file system,
called FAT32.
If so, you should change it to NTFS
format, and if it is not possible, you can
always create a new partition, on the
same hard disk, with NTFS format.
To find out if your hard disk(s) is/are
formatted with NTFS format, click My PC,
right-click hard disk and click Properties.
As you can see, in the figure on the right,
this hard disk is formatted using NTFS.

BIBLIO installation
Installing a new program under Windows XP means to start a session as Administrator. If you try
to install a program and you do not have Administrator privileges (f.e. if you do it using a Guest or
Limited account) BIBLIO could be not installed properly.
When BIBLIO is installed, by default, uses C:\Biblio folder (It is not recommended to change it).
NOTE: To use BIBLIO on a LAN, it is necessary to install it, on every single LAN computer in which
it is going to be used (SERVER and Clients).
Once BIBLIO be installed, the first thing to do is, specially if it is going to be used by Librarian and
Student, to change or set up access passwords for each user.
To change or set up access password, do the following:
1.- From Windows XP desktop, click Start, select Programs, select Biblio entry and then BIBLIO
2.- Select English language by clicking the British flag.
3.- Enter access password. By default, biblio
4.- Click Settings Menu and then click Edit access passwords
5.- Change Librarian access password, by default is biblio and is known by everybody.
6.- Create an access password for Student. To do this easily, the password could be student.
NOTE: To make things easy, it is convenient to use the same access passwords in every single
computer and for the same access levels.

Creating user accounts

In SERVER computer.
This computer should be used, by default, by Librarian and it is where the Library DB is. In this
computer we need to create 2 accounts, corresponding to the 2 users who could need access to
SERVER from other computers on a LAN. These 2 accounts should be named Librarian and
Student.
NOTE: If you are completely sure that Student are going to access to SERVER through other
computers on a LAN, we could create just one account named Student.
If not
1.- Start session as Administrator to create new user accounts.
2.- From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, go to Control Panel, click User accounts, and
then click Create a new account.
3.- Create 2 new accounts and name them Librarian and Student.

NOTE: These 2 new user accounts must have the following features:

Librarian account: It must be as Administrator (or Limited) and MUST have a password.
Student account: It must be Limited and MUST have a password.

To create an access password on a user account, do the following:

1.- From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, then go to Control Panel,
and then go to User accounts.
2.- Select the user account in which you want to create a password.
3.- Click option Create a password.

In Client computer(s)
In Client computer(s), that is, that or those computers on a LAN that will be used by Student (or by
other Librarian) to access to Library data, you must create the same 2 accounts (Librarian and
Student) following the same steps described above for Server computer.

Running and working with BIBLIO

Once BIBLIO is installed:

If you start session as Administrator, from Windows XP Desktop, click Start, select
Programs, go to Biblio entry and click Biblio.

If you start session with a limited account (f.i. Student), it is possible to get error messages,
if C:\Biblio folder was created by the Administrator (when making the installation), as the
Administrator is the proprietor of that folder. Another user with a different access level
(Student, for example) could be not authorized to work (or modify) existing files, and
therefore get error messages.

To fix this situation and make BIBLIO program available for the Administrator and for other users
with Limited accounts (Student), read ahead Section named: Security: Assigning privileges to
different users.

Sharing folders with Windows XP

In Windows XP, by default, every existing folders and files on Shared Documents folder, are
shared with all users and PCs on a LAN and can be read and modified by all users from any
networked PC.
A different folder (not inside Shared Documents folder)
can be shared on a LAN. To do this, right-click it and
click the option Properties.
Then, click Sharing tab.
If you select Share this folder on the network, all files
on that folder can be viewed by all users.
If you also select Allow network users to change my
files, all files on that folder can be viewed and modified
by all users on a LAN. This action could be similar to
create a new folder inside Shared Documents folder.

Under a shared disk drive or folder, will always be displayed a hand

or folder is shared with other PCs on a LAN.

to know that disk drive

It is not possible (by default) to make a read-only folder for some users (Student) and full control
for others (Librarian). But yes, it is possible. To do this, keep on reading this manual

Activating advanced options to share folders

To fix the problem described above, you need to active advanced options to share folders.
1.- From Windows XP desktop, click Start,
click Control Panel, and double click
Appearances and Themes icon.
Then, double click Folder Options and
click View tab.
2.- At the bottom, check out if Use simple
file sharing (Recommended) check
box is unselected. By default, it is
selected.
3.- Clear Hide file extensions for
known file types check box.
It is not compulsory, but it can be
useful.
4.- Double click My PC, select C:\Biblio
folder, right-click it and go to Sharing
and security option. Now you could
find out new options and tabs not
displayed before.

Differences between Sharing and Security

SHARING: It is only used to grant access privileges to other
users on a LAN (whose user accounts do NOT need to be the
same as the ones on the PC in which you are working). It is
used to define what users from other PCs on a LAN can access
to a disk drive or folder, and to grant them read and modify
access or just read-only access.

Sharing is NOT used to grant access to the PCs

different users in which you are working.
Sharing is useful if you want other users to be granted
access to your PC. If not, it is not necessary to use this
option.

SECURITY: It is used to grant access privileges to the PCs

different users in which you are working.

If a user from a different PC on a LAN has been granted

access to a disk drive or a folder of your PC, you could
also define his access levels.
Security is used to grant access privileges to folders to
different users of your PC. It will be useful, for example, to grant access to Student users to
work with files on C:\Biblio folder, created by the Administrator.

Sharing C:\Biblio folder on a LAN

Only in SERVER computer
Now you are going to share C:\Biblio folder, that it is on SERVER computer, with other users on a
LAN. You will need to start session as Administrator to be able to make the following changes.
Sharing (or not sharing) the entire hard disk(s)
1.- Double click My PC, right click the working
hard disk, click Sharing and Security and
select Do not share this folder radio button.
This step is not compulsory, but advisable
to prevent other users on a LAN from reading
or viewing existing files and folders on your
hard drive.
2.- If you have other hard disks on your PC, and you consider it necessary, you can repeat
the previous step, with every single hard disk present on your PC (C:, D:,).
3.- Select and Remove,
default user, Everyone.
4.- Add to user list, the 2 new users created
before: Librarian and Student.
Click [Add] and on the new screen
displayed, enter the username inside the
text box named, Enter the object names
you wish to select. In this case, type
Librarian and click [Add]
Do the same and add user Student.
5.- Select Read and Modify check boxes for
the 2 new accounts added (Librarian and
Student).
NOTE: Now both users, Librarian and Student,
have privileges to access, from another PC, to
C:\Biblio folder on SERVER. The right thing
would be to select Read check box for Student
account and Read and Modify check boxes for
Librarian account, but in order to make BIBLIO
work properly, you need to select both check
boxes, both for Librarian account and for
Student account.

Security: Assigning privileges to different users

Now, you need to assign access
privileges to C:\Biblio folder to the
different users of your PC (Librarian and
Student).
If not, only users with Administrator level
will be able to run BIBLIO and modify
existing data on C:\Biblio folder, as the
Administrator is the proprietor of that
folder because it was him who created it
when BIBLIO installation was made.
If the 2 new accounts (Librarian and
Student) are not displayed in Group or
user names list, you must add them by
clicking [Add]
On SERVER computer.
1.- Librarian account: You will grant it
four permissions: Read & Execute, List
Folder Contents, Read and Write.
2.- Student account: You will grant it only
three permissions: Read & Execute, List
Folder Contents and Read

With these settings on SERVER computer, Librarian will have permissions to read and write
(modify) existing data on C:\Biblio folder, while Student will be able just to read (and not modify).

On Client computer(s).
1.- Librarian account: You will grant it four permissions: Read & Execute, List Folder Contents,
Read and Write.
2.- Student account: You will grant it four permissions: Read & Execute, List Folder Contents and
Read and Write.
With these settings on Clients computer(s), both Librarian and Student will have permissions to
read and write (modify) existing data on C:\Biblio folder, but just from Clients computer(s).

Assigning special attributes to individual files

NOTE: Next procedure is NOT necessary, as C:\Biblio folder is read-only for Students (Impossible
to modify data). It is described to enhance network configuration knowledge for all possible users
of BIBLIO.
To prevent Student accounts from deleting or modifying existing data on SERVER C:\Biblio folder
from other computer(s) on a LAN, you need to assign read-only attribute to specific files on this
folder.
Do the following:
1.- From Windows XP desktop, double
click My PC, double click the hard disk
on which BIBLIO is installed and
double click C:\Biblio folder.
Find biblio.mdb (Library DB) file
and right-click it.
2.- Click Properties and then
click Security tab.
3.- If Student account does NOT appear
in Group or user names List, (in this
case, Librarian account is not needed),
you need to add it by clicking [ Add]
4.- Select Write Deny check box
and click [OK]
5.- Repeat steps, 1 to 4,
with Biblio.ini and with Biblio.exe.

Remote connection with SERVER from other computer(s)

Following are described the steps to remote access to SERVER from other computer on a LAN,
both to make searches (Student) and to make loans, add new items, etc. (Librarian or a second
Librarian).
1.- Start session on any computer on a LAN.
If it is a Student with Student account and if it is a Librarian with Librarian account.
2.- Run BIBLIO and enter the access password according to user.
It is recommended to make this process simple to set student as password for Students.
3.- Once BIBLIO is running, click Settings Menu and then click Use DB in Local Network Mode.
4.- When prompted with the Select a Database window, click My Network Places icon.

5.- Double click the PC to connect to, that is, the Library SERVER computer.
6.- You might be prompted (or not) with a Start session
window to enter a username and a password to access
to the remote computer. If so, enter your username and
your password. Now you can access to the shared folder,
not the Database.
7.- Double click the folder where the Library DB is,
by default, C:\Biblio.
8,- When prompted, just click [ OK ].

NOTE: Once a first connection to SERVER is established, connection data are saved, so next time
you want to establish the same connection, just confirm you want to connect using saved data.
NOTE: If different users, with different access privileges (Librarian and Student), want to use the
same computer, once a user stops working with BIBLIO, he must close his session and next user
starts a different one, with a different user account.

Troubleshooting
It is important to remember that these technical procedures described above, related to folder
sharing on a LAN, must be done by advanced users on networking configuration, to prevent
possible errors when BIBLIO runs or data loss due to lack of security or inadequate use from users
who could remotely access to C:\Biblio folder.
It is advisable to check out the proper running of BIBLIO on a LAN, before letting Students work
with it and verify that it is impossible to delete data from a remote computer.
It is possible, after following the procedures and steps described in this manual, to get Locked
Database error messages when running BIBLIO or trying to connect to Server computer. Also you
could be prompted with Database is in use by another user error message. To avoid these error
messages, check out you have done, step by step, the procedures described above, and if
necessary, delete and create again the user accounts, starting from scratch.

The easiest configuration

For those who think that the configuration described above is too complex, there is another
solution, easier, that will work on most cases without problems, but with limitations.
In which cases can it be used this alternative solution to share C:\Biblio folder?

If you do NOT want to create and configure user accounts.

If Librarian is NOT going to use a remote computer to work with BIBLIO, that is, he always
uses his own computer located in the Library, to make loans, add new items, etc.
If users who use a computer to make searches on Database, do NOT need real time data.

If these are your circumstances, on most cases they are, do the following:
1.- In Server computer (Librarians), copy C:\Biblio folder (where BIBLIO files are) and paste it
inside Shared Documents folder.
2.- In Client computer, used to make searches, establish a remote connection to C:\Biblio folder,
located now inside Shared Documents folder on remote Server.
3.- Every day, when stop working with BIBLIO, or after making massive changes on Library
Database (adding new items, loans, modifications), copy and paste C:\Biblio folder data inside
C:\Biblio folder created inside Shared Documents folder on Server.
This procedure allows to:

Not to create and configure user accounts on Server computer.

Be sure that C:\Biblio folder data are NOT going to be changed by users.
Have a backup copy on Shared Documents folder in case of data loss,
despite of making backup copies on diskette(s), CD ROM or USB pen drive.

Hope this manual be useful for you.

Best regards,
Jos A. Graa.