Sharing a hard-disk data network with encrypted data and password

[Andretta Paolo]

Hello to all. I've just finished creating my harddrive with Veracrypt. everything works properly. I had the need to create it for privacy reasons since it will be used in an accountancy firm of which I am the boss. My office consists of 6 stations connected to each other in a LAN domain with 1 server.
My question is?
I want to share the harddisk, connecting it to the server and that can be used by everyone.
Can someone help me?!
Image:
https://ibb.co/c6LLET
https://ibb.co/mOfy18

[Adrian Kentleton]

You need to look at this, re Veracrypt specific issues, in the documentation: Sharing Over Network

If you mount the volume on the server, all network users can have read/write access, but data travels unencrypted over the network; is your network secure?

Also, it apears you have not formatted your volume with NTFS. If so, you have made a bad choice from the security/reliability point of view. Can you confirm how it has been formatted?

With regard to other issues, you need to say more about how this volume will be used by the other stations. Will all be working on the same data? If so, how are you managing version control?

Or, will each station have its own exclusive folder/data, which they work on, and which you wish to keep secure when work is done?

You need to provide more info about your setup, and how you intend to use it, before further advice can be offered.

[Andretta Paolo]

Thanks for the reply. I had already read in the FAQ what you told me. The only thing I wanted to know is if there was a solution to access from each location by entering a password. For now I only enter the passwrod at the first access. I do not know if I explained myself.

[Andretta Paolo]

Excuse me I forgot to tell you that I formatted NTSF and I followed the whole procedure correctly. I repeat, I just wanted to have the possibility that at every access by pc ask me the password and not just once.

[Andretta Paolo]

And another question.
the server hosting the disk goes out at 8 pm and automatically resumes at 8 am. Every time I turn the server back on I lose all the advanced LAN coindivision configuration and I have to run it and manage the various access rights every day. is there a way to solve all this?

[Adrian Kentleton]

Re your 'another question', it would be sensible to mount (and dismount) your encrypted drive on the server with a batch file, and use the net share command in the file once the drive is mounted to recreate your wanted access rights.

I'm not at all clear what your requirement is, re 'every access by PC ask me the password', which is not the same thing as 'access from each location by entering a password'. Please clarify.

However, I can think of no way users/stations could mount/dismount the encrypted drive on the server unless they have physical access to the server, can remotely control it, or can ask the server admin to do it.

[Andretta Paolo]

thanks friend. I can not do it. Can you give me an idea for the batch file please? after the paths / data etc. I insert him.
You would really help me.

[Andretta Paolo]

When i start the server the volume start in auto and ask me the password.
And for the LAN i have a domain.local with 10 pc. But only 4 user i want can read/modify the device.

[Adrian Kentleton]

A batch file is a plain text file with the the .bat extension, using some special syntax, that otherwise is just a series of standard windows text-based commands.

If your encrypted drive is automatically mounted by Veracrypt on boot/logon, you just need a batch file to do the sharing.

On the assumption that your encrypted drive is mounted to the letter P:, and you wish to share the whole drive (and not specific folders) with your four users, the following should do the basic job (for test purposes):

@echo off
set up1=/grant:user1,change
set up2=/grant:user2,change
set up3=/grant:user3,change
set up4=/grant:user4,change
net share sharename=P: %up1% %up2% %up3% %up4%
pause
exit

Copy and paste this text into a plain text file on the server's desktop (eg using Notepad), save it as eg 'share.bat', edit it to replace 'user1' etc with the names of your permitted users, and 'sharename' with whatever you want to call the share (the name with which it will show up on your users stations), then right-click on the file and 'Run 'as administrator' once the encrypted drive is mounted.

For production purposes, it'd be sensible to incorporate a few error checking/messaging and unwanted message suppression routines, but try the above first.

[Andretta Paolo]

Thanks bro! thanks for your time!

[Andretta Paolo]

ok work great all! your a magician man! :)