While this may make the number of shared items appear large, keep in mind that this is because you are accessing the system with elevated privileges. With this setup, by default accounts that are administrative accounts will be able to access all files on the system, as they can access the roots of each mounted hard drive. This folder will be viewable by everyone, which includes all local user accounts and the guest user account, or a specialized 'Sharing Only' account, which can be created in the 'File Sharing' system preferences, or in the 'Accounts' system preferences. Public folders: Each account will by default have a public folder associated with it. This is available to any user who has a local account on the system. This gives a user full access to the default locations for that user's files. OS X has three default share-point locations: Sharing and access permissions can be set for any folder in its information window.įilesystem roots: The root (base folder) of any locally mounted filesystem is available through file sharing however, it is only available to the system's administrator accounts.Ĭurrent user's home directory: The home directory associated with the credentials supplied for the log-in session will be shown. This can leave new OS X users confused about why the system appears to be so open and accessible, and may cause concern about the security of files in OS X. When establishing a file-sharing connection to your Mac from a different computer, the system may display a number of available items to you, which include all hard drives and your home folder in addition to various shared folders you may have enabled.

File sharing mac os