I need to update permissions to departmental storage.

Introduction

Departmental storage (Warehouse, UW-Bulk, etc.) is network-based storage managed by individual departments, allowing your department to organize files and control access without needing to contact UWIT. This article is intended for departmental storage administrators and covers the process for adding and removing users, as well modifying the permissions of existing users. If you do not have access to your department’s network drive, please contact your department.

To set or modify permissions on a departmental network drive, your account must already have admin access (Full Control) of the drive or folder. If you do not have access to a Windows computer or need assistance adding users to your departmental network storage drive, click the yellow Request Update button and complete the form. Once IT verifies your admin access to the requested folder, they will add the specified users and notify you by email when the request is complete.

The steps in this article describe how to manage access for an entire network drive. However, the same process can be used to set permissions on individual folders within a drive. For questions about advanced Warehouse access management, contact userhelp@uwyo.edu.

Procedure

  1. Open File Explorer. Right click the warehouse drive in the navigation pane on the left side of the window, then select Properties.

Windows file explorer showing instructions to right-click the Warehouse drive and select Properties.

  1. Select the Security tab in the properties window.
  2. Click Edit.

Windows properties dialog for network location, showing security permissions with an "Edit..." button highlighted.

  1. Click the Add button to add a new user(or group). If you want to modify the permissions of an existing user, click here to skip to step 7. To remove a user, select the user from the list and click remove, then apply.

WARNING: The Administrators account and the SYSTEM account are necessary to the continued functioning of your network storage. Do not remove these accounts. The IT Account Admins and IT Warehouse Storage Managers accounts represent IT support staff. These accounts are not necessary for the functionality of your storage space, however, removing these accounts will make it much more difficult for UWIT to provide support for your network storage if ever necessary.

  1. Type the username you would like to add, then click Check Names. If multiple users are found with similar user names, it will ask you to select the correct one from the list. More than one user can be added at a time by entering semicolons(;) between the user names. If your department uses a Department OU and Active Directory groups, you can enter the name of your AD group here as well. 

Computer dialog box for selecting users or groups with fields and buttons, highlighting "Check Names."

  1. Click OK.
  2. Modify the users access level
    1. Select the user(or group) from the list that you just added or want to modify the permissions of. If multiple new users were added previously, you must set the permissions individually for each user you added.
    2. Choose an access level below and click the link to see how to set it. NOTE: It is best practice to only give a user the minimum level of access necessary to do their job.

There are 3 basic levels of access:

Read Only: User can only view files.

Read/Write: User can view, edit, create, and delete any file. (Most Common)

Full Control: User can view, edit, and modify any file of folder. Additionally, they can manage access to the warehouse drive, including adding and removing users and modifying access permissions

For Read Only: Check the Allow boxes for Read & Execute, List contents, Read. Do not click apply yet, continue to step C. 

Windows permissions dialog box showing user access settings.

For Read/Write: Check the Allow boxes for Modify, Read & Execute, List contents, Read, and Write as shown below. Do not click apply yet, continue to step C. 

Windows permissions dialog box showing user access settings.

For Full Control: Check the Allow box next to Full Control. All other boxes will automatically select. Do not click apply yet, continue to step C. 

Windows permissions dialog box showing user access settings.

  1. If you are modifying the permission for multiple new users, go back to step A and set the permissions for the next user. Once you are done modifying permissions for all new users, click Apply.
  2. The modified permissions will then begin applying to all folders and files in the network drive. This step can take a while to complete. Do not click cancel, close the Window, or turn off your computer until this process completes. This window will close automatically when finished.

Windows Security pop-up displaying a message about setting security information.

  1. After the permissions are set, click OK to close the permissions window. Click OK again to close the properties window. 

If you have any questions regarding this procedure, or would like assistance, please contact the UWIT Help Desk at 307-766-4357 Option 1 or visit https://support.uwyo.edu.

Notes

  • Departmental network storage drives are a shared space. Rules regulating how these storage spaces are used and managed are determined by the individual department, and not by UWIT. Please check with your department before making any changes to this space. 
  • If you have checked with your department, and the admin of your department's storage drive is still unknown, please contact the UWIT Help Desk. If the previous admin is not longer with working for UW, your department's Dean, Director, or VP will need to contact the UWIT Help Desk and ask that a new admin be added. 

Available to

This is available to faculty and staff with admin access to a departmental network storage drive.