Advice on adding users/accounts in DSM

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Advice on adding users/accounts in DSM

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In the past I've only had my own user account on my DSM. I'm now starting to add members of my family and have some questions on how best to set it up.

I added a few members of my family and see it's created home folders for each of the new users. I've added the new users as 'standard' accounts, and my own account is an administrator account. But I noticed if I login from one of the new (standard user) accounts I can access all others users' home folders, including my own (admin) account. Shouldn't they only be able to access their own home folder, not everyone else's? (Have I set something up wrong here?)

I'm also going to setup Synology Drive on various computers that my family use so that some of their folders are synced to the Synology, and then to other computers they use, and I'll also setup some folders to backup to the Synology (that don't need syncing to other computers).

It seems that I can't sync or backup to each user's home folder so I guess I'll have to back to a different shared folder.
If I setup a new shared folder (Family Shared) could I create a folder for each user and set it so that each user can only access their own sub folder of the 'Family Shared' folder, or should I create a (top level) shared folder in Control Panel for each user, so that each can only access their own folders, and can't access the folders of the other users?

Any advice on how you've setup others users on your own Synology's would be appreciated.
 
Well what you are asking has been extensively covered in this article



It seems that I can't sync or backup to each user's home folder so I guess I'll have to back to a different shared folder.
correct, again check the link above.
 
@Rusty Thanks, it's taken me a while to get my head around it, but after some trial and error I'm managed to get it working as I want :)

Basically it seems that for the folders you want to change permissions you have to select 'Make inherited permissions explicit' under Properties > Permission tab > Advanced Options and edit the users there.

Now when I log in as a standard user I can only see that user under homes.


I created a new shared folder in Control Panel for all my family members other files and created a folder for each user in that shared folder, and set it so that each user can only access their own files there too.

But under the top level shared folder I can see the other users' folders (when clicking on them I get a message saying the user hasn't been assigned privileges to access it). Is there any way to hide the other users' folders that the logged in user can't access? (No big deal if not, but it would be nice.)
 
Now when I log in as a standard user I can only see that user under homes.

You must have really mucked up permissions with /homes, as the default is that users can see ONLY their own /home folders. If you touched /homes (or /home) permissions you have irreversibly messed up. The only solution is to backup anything under /home that you need, then turn off /home feature and the after a restart, turn on /home feature.

NEVER EVER mess with /homes (or /home) permissions.
 
You must have really mucked up permissions with /homes, as the default is that users can see ONLY their own /home folders. If you touched /homes (or /home) permissions you have irreversibly messed up. The only solution is to backup anything under /home that you need, then turn off /home feature and the after a restart, turn on /home feature.

NEVER EVER mess with /homes (or /home) permissions.
Oh dear! :giggle:

I haven't done anything recently, but could have done it a long time ago when I didn't know anything about Synology. I'll backup and start afresh for those. Thanks.
 
You must have really mucked up permissions with /homes, as the default is that users can see ONLY their own /home folders. If you touched /homes (or /home) permissions you have irreversibly messed up. The only solution is to backup anything under /home that you need, then turn off /home feature and the after a restart, turn on /home feature.

NEVER EVER mess with /homes (or /home) permissions.

I agree, backup what you have in there, turn off homes and then re-enable it.
 
In the past I've only had my own user account on my DSM. I'm now starting to add members of my family and have some questions on how best to set it up.

I added a few members of my family and see it's created home folders for each of the new users. I've added the new users as 'standard' accounts, and my own account is an administrator account. But I noticed if I login from one of the new (standard user) accounts I can access all others users' home folders, including my own (admin) account. Shouldn't they only be able to access their own home folder, not everyone else's? (Have I set something up wrong here?)

I'm also going to setup Synology Drive on various computers that my family use so that some of their folders are synced to the Synology, and then to other computers they use, and I'll also setup some folders to backup to the Synology (that don't need syncing to other computers).

It seems that I can't sync or backup to each user's home folder so I guess I'll have to back to a different shared folder.
If I setup a new shared folder (Family Shared) could I create a folder for each user and set it so that each user can only access their own sub folder of the 'Family Shared' folder, or should I create a (top level) shared folder in Control Panel for each user, so that each can only access their own folders, and can't access the folders of the other users?

Any advice on how you've setup others users on your own Synology's would be appreciated.
Hi.
I add a user test and i add only one shared folder that i have acess also with admin user.

Shared folders worked for me but if i switch between users (admin/test) in order to work properly i have to logout desktop in order to "refresh network" , (testing in the same desktop).

I tested with another desktop and i have acess just to one shared folder with user test.

If i use web browser (switching between users) i dont have any problems.

You dont need to create "family shared", just give permissions to the users/folders you want.

I advice you to give others users (except admin of course) read only permission.

You can customise permissions but keep it simple and start user by user , and folder by folder.

It is my personal opinion :)

Pay attention what @Telos said also.
 
I agree, backup what you have in there, turn off homes and then re-enable it.

Pay attention what @Telos said also.

I've turned of homes, rebooted and turned it back on again. All seems fine now, thanks.


You dont need to create "family shared", just give permissions to the users/folders you want.

I advice you to give others users (except admin of course) read only permission.

Interesting. What's the thinking behind allowing users to be able to view/copy the files and folders of other users?

I don't really want my kids accessing my work files, even if they're read only. And my wife's work files contain a lot of sensitive data, so it would be much better if they didn't have access to anyone else's folder at all :)


So I guess there isn't a way to hide the other users' folders from account that don't have permission/access?
 
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What I meant with that question was from my comment in the bottom part of this Advice on adding users/accounts in DSM

Are you accessing that shared folder with your admin account or user account?

You probably would have to go into the sub folders and change them back to inherit the main (parent) folder. Make sure administrators (group) or the admin user has access to the folder and set the permission so that all the child folders permission are updated. This would need to be done using file station not through shared folder.

Also, I never messed with the advanced permissions or NFS permissions. The regular permissions tab is all that you should need (at the basic level) to assign users to a share.

I would delete out the shared folder and create a new one. You can have a family folder and then have sub folders for each member. On each members folder you would uncheck inherit permissions from the parent folder and add permissions of each user to their respective folder. You also should add administrators group to each of those folders too so that your admin account can access (I think this is why you can’t see those sub folders at the moment). Although the homes folder would work the same exact way as this, just less of the manually permission configuration.

In file station right click on the shared folder on the left and choose properties. See the attached photo
 

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I've turned of homes, rebooted and turned it back on again. All seems fine now, thanks.




Interesting. What's the thinking behind allowing users to be able to view/copy the files and folders of other users?

I don't really want my kids accessing my work files, even if they're read only. And my wife's work files contain a lot of sensitive data, so it would be much better if they didn't have access to anyone else's folder at all :)


So I guess there isn't a way to hide the other users' folders from account that don't have permission/access?
Thats why i said that.
You can control everything with permissions, of course separate with folders.

Example:
-Your work : my documents is only acess for you
-your wifes work - other folder, here if it is sensitive data you have to think better...
i am thinking you can view the folders but you cant acess , just her with password.
-your kids - give acess for example to only movies/series with read only (read or view, not allowed to make changes... )
read-only access - Wiktionary

In my opinion there is no need to create "shared family" folder.

Yesterday i tested with just one folder and one user, but it is a question of customize with more users and folders.
See my post again
 
Thats why i said that.
You can control everything with permissions, of course separate with folders.

Example:
-Your work : my documents is only acess for you
-your wifes work - other folder, here if it is sensitive data you have to think better...
i am thinking you can view the folders but you cant acess , just her with password.
-your kids - give acess for example to only movies/series with read only (read or view, not allowed to make changes... )
read-only access - Wiktionary

In my opinion there is no need to create "shared family" folder.

Yesterday i tested with just one folder and one user, but it is a question of customize with more users and folders.
See my post again
Thanks a lot for the clarification :)
 
Are you accessing that shared folder with your admin account or user account?
I'm testing it by accessing it through one of the standard user accounts that I've created for my family.

You probably would have to go into the sub folders and change them back to inherit the main (parent) folder. Make sure administrators (group) or the admin user has access to the folder and set the permission so that all the child folders permission are updated. This would need to be done using file station not through shared folder.
This sounds like how I set it up. I've just looked at the permissions of individual home folders, and replicated that with these folders. Users still can't access other users' folder, but I can still see other users' folders.

It's working how I want now (standard users can't access other users' folders). Hiding user folders from other users would be nice, but not to worry, this is much better than I had it setup before, so I can cope with that 

Thanks a lot for the help!
 
Maybe I missed the logic... but why not simply use the home folders instead of creating another shared folder with the same features?
Because (as far as I'm aware) you can't sync files/folders between multiple computers in the home folder that aren't inside the Drive folder (and we don't want to move all their different folders into the Drive folder).
 
…OK, I found the option I was looking for.

(In case anyone else wants to know in the future) Control Panel > Shared Folder > Click on Edit for the shared folder you want to modify, then check 'Hide sub-folders and files from users without permissions'.

Can't believe I missed that option :LOL:
 

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