INFO: VSS on Windows NT Workstation w/ FAT Partition

WINDOWS   | WINDOWS NT

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows NT, versions 4.0, 5.0
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows 95, versions 4.0, 5.0

SUMMARY

When you install Visual SourceSafe on a Windows NT workstation that has a FAT (File Allocation Table) partition, note that setting up rights is different from a setting up rights on a workstation that has an NTFS (Windows NT File System) partition.

Setting up rights is important to maintain the integrity of the data that will be stored in SourceSafe. It is important to distinguish between the rights within SourceSafe itself as opposed to the network rights themselves. There is a correlation between the rights at the network level and the rights in SourceSafe itself. An example would be if a user had read only rights to the DATA directory on the network yet within SourceSafe Administrator was given full rights. In this case, the user would not be able to do all of the tasks that full rights in SourceSafe entails because of the read only setting of the DATA directory at the network level. This article addresses the rights on the network level itself.

MORE INFORMATION

When Windows NT has an NTFS partition, rights may be set up for the root directory as well as different rights for sub-directories, within a single share. This is not the case with a FAT partition where separate shares must be set up for each directory.

Step-by-Step Example

1. In Windows NT File Manager, select the Root VSS directory on the server. Then on the Disk menu, and select Share As. Click the Permissions button, and set access rights to Read Only. (This can also be done by using the Sharing icon on the toolbar.)

2. Select the \\Data subdirectory, and set access rights to Full.

3. Select the \\Users\<user name> directory, and set Full access rights here as well. Also, set Full access rights to the \\Temp directory.

4. Use the Srcsafe.ini file on the Client computer to point to the Data and Users directories:

         Data_Path=<path to Server Data directory>
         Users_Path=<path to Server Users directory>
         Temp_Path=<path to Server Temp directory>