Mac OS X: Only Public Folders Are Shared

  • Last Modified: November 07, 2008
  • Article: HT2449
  • Old Article: 106662

Summary

The Sharing feature of Mac OS X shares only Public folders, and all Public folders when applicable. This document describes this behavior.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.3, Mac OS X 10.2, Mac OS X 10.1, Mac OS X 10.0, Mac OS X 10.5

If you have set up more than one user in the Users panel of Mac OS X, note that all Public folders on the computer will be shared. All users of the computer should be aware of this. For an explanation of the Home directory model, see technical document: "Mac OS X: Using Your Home Directory".

File Sharing in Mac OS X only shares the Public folder(s). For more information on this design feature and a workaround, see technical document: "Mac OS X: How to Share More Than Public Folders".

If you need the control and versatility of a full server feature set, consider:

Mac OS X Server product page.

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