Allowing my daughter access to her files, but not mine

We recently bought our daughter a new laptop computer and after installing the WD setup software I noticed that I used my admin login to get it going on her laptop. I understand that I can restrict access to certain folders but since my account is logged in on her computer the drive thinks it’s me, not her so she can still access them.

How do I set it up on her laptop where she can go into her folder and save/retrieve items but if she wants to see what mom and dad have in our folders she is unable to open and view them? Thank you!

-Brandon

UPDATE

I’m not sure if this was going to be suggested, but I did find that when I open the my cloud dashboard I could sign out of my account; however when trying to log in to my daughters account it says username/password is incorrect when I made them so I know I am inputting them correctly.

Also, opening the my cloud shortcut on the desktop shows that I am signed in but does not give an option to sign in as another user even after disconnecting the device and connecting again.

I don’t use the my cloud desktop application, so if your issue is with that then I can’t help.

However, from a windows share perspective, if you want to give her access to her shares (which I assume you have setup in the my cloud dashboard) and you haven’t been able to connect to those shares with her user account (because windows explorer didn’t prompt you), you can map a network drive and click the ‘use different credentials’ box to force entry of a different user. You can also access the credentials manager in windows and delete your credentials (do this on her laptop). Just type ‘cred’ in windows start menu and you will see Credentials Manager. Delete the windows credential for the IP address matching your my cloud (you need to expand the item and then click “Remove from vault”).

1.) Open the web interface of your My Cloud (http://wdmycloud or htpp:// or right click within the network envorinment on the icon of My Cloud and “open web interface”
2.) Create a new user account for your daughter with a password, a new folder with the username will be created automatically.
3.) Check your own user account and switch off the “Public” for your account, create a passowrd too if not existing
4.) Click on Folders and check if th permissions are correct. Your daughter’s account shall not have any permission on folders where you don’t want her to have access to.

For the Windows side, follow @Royce_Lithgo 's posting

You yourself need to do the same with your folders if you have used them prior to this without a password; you now will be asked by Windows to provide credentials as your folders are now access right enabled folders.

Probably worth reading Chapters 6 & 7 of the User Manual again, which are ‘Managing Users’ and ‘Managing Shares’.

2 Likes

Thank you, I tried the Credentials manager suggestion and that did not seem to work. I can only access my cloud through the admin login. The other accounts are unable to log in and I even tried creating a new user and that did not work either. I’m not sure how to map a network drive so I have not tried that.

@cpt_paranoia If I had a users manual I would read it, but thank you for your non constructive post. The problem I am experiencing involves the other users not being able to even log in so that they can even see shares. I get a “The user name or password entered is incorrect” although I know I am entering it correctly.

Here is the link to the My Cloud User Manual, I have it placed in my favorites.

When setting up users and shares it is a good idea to read all the instructions provided in the Dashboard and under Help!

See example image below. Click on, tap or activate image to enlarge it.

cat0w
USA

@cat0w Thanks for the link to the manual. I have followed all the steps starting with removing all users except for the admin account, then proceeded to add an account. I entered First name, Last name, and password for the test account. I then signed out and attempted to log back in with the new tester account and I got the exact same message that the username could not be found.

Signed out of what? Windows? The WD Dashboard?

You can only use the admin account to access the WD Dashboard user interface. Any accounts created via the Dashboard user interface apply ONLY to the My Cloud. They are NOT used to log into Windows. You use the login information created on the Windows computer to log into Windows itself.

What some do is create the same user name and password that they use on their Windows computer on the My Cloud Dashboard to make it easier for the end user to remember their user name and password.

When accessing a password protected My Cloud Share through Windows File Explorer, Windows does not allow multiple logins to password protected My Cloud Shares using different My Cloud User names. There is typically an option when logging into a password protected My Cloud Share or when mapping a My Cloud Share to use a different My Cloud user name. For mapping a drive, tick the “Connect using different credentials” check box.

http://res2.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/windows%207/main/fe8623b8-affc-400d-ac76-472603dc56d5_46.jpg

@Bennor okay that explains a lot thank you. I was logging in/out of the WD Dashboard which I understand now can only be accessed with the admin account. Is the same true with the desktop shortcut “WD MyCloud” that allows us to access our saved files? I would like for her to be able to click on that shortcut and open her shares but not ours (which I already have set up per the user manual). Is there where the map network drive comes in?

In setting up your daughter, if she has her own email address, then you should create her as a user, enter her email address, have her in the room and allow her to create her MyCloud.com account. Once she is set up and has her share then you as admin can set what access you want her to have to other shares.

cat0w
USA

If I had a users manual I would read it, but thank you for your non constructive post.

The first Google hit for “WD MyCloud User Manual” is what you’re looking for. It’s so easy I don’t even bother to keep a bookmark like cat0w does, but that’s a good idea too.

My apologies for assuming you would use Google or other search engine to find the manual.

1 Like

Don’t remember exactly where the WD My Cloud shortcut on the desktop would take the user as I don’t use the WD software (for the most part) on my computers. Rather I use Windows File Explorer.

To map a Share see the following WD Support Document. In the process of mapping a Share that has been configured as Private one will be required to enter their My Cloud User Name and Password to complete the process to map the Share.

http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=2676

Or see the general direction for mapping a Share in the WD My Cloud User Manual (see following link), Chapter 3, Mapping the Public Folder (Windows), page 20.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705103.pdf

Thank you for the information. I opted to just keep the public shortcut on the desktop and created a folder in there for her to save her work into. I appreciate all of your as well as the others who have posted.