What types of security can Security Explorer manage?

Security Explorer can manage NTFS, Printer, Share and Registry permissions across an enterprise.

Does Security Explorer create reports?

Security Explorer can export a complete list of permissions, but does not offer a wide range of formats, analysis or ability to filter and select what to report on. If you are looking for a true security reporting solution, take a look at Enterprise Security Reporter.

Can't I perform these same tasks with native Windows tools?

While it is possible to assign NTFS, Printer, Share and Registry permission with native tools, administrators are limited to modifying individual entries on a single server. With Security Explorer, security changes can be made across multiple servers at once. Additionally, actions such as quickly assigning ownership, cloning permissions to update them after a domain or server migration, cleaning up permissions relating to deleted or unknown accounts, and backing-up/restoring permission sets can only be performed efficiently with Security Explorer.

What is "Administrative Override"?

Administrative Override allows administrators to set NTFS permissions without encountering the dreaded "Access Denied". Any permissions configured with Security Explorer will be set onto the specified files and folders without error.

How is Security Explorer licensed?

Security Explorer is licensed by the number of servers on which you want to manage permissions.

How does the permissions backup and restore function work?

Backups can be scheduled using the user interface or command line, and copy all permissions relating to files and folders, printers, registry keys or file shares into a flat file anywhere you choose. This is a fast operation since it does not backup the data, but only the permissions information. Restore permissions is as simple as selecting a backup file, and navigating down to the file(s), folder(s), printer(s), share(s) or registry key(s) where you want to repair permissions and put them back how they were at the time of the backup.

How long do permissions management operations take?

Security Explorer 5 now features multi-threading, so long operations take place in separate windows and you can carry on working while the operation continues in the background. The length of time taken depends on the size of your file structure and whether you have chosen to push permissions changes to protected objects as well as those inheriting permissions from their parents.

How does this help with server, domain and NT4 migrations?

After moving user accounts or data between servers or domains, you will often end up with file permissions that relate to SIDs from the user account in the old domain, or maybe SIDs that cannot be resolved to any user account (shown as “unknown accounts”). Security Explorer’s Revoke feature can remove permissions related to unknown accounts, or it’s Clone feature can be used replace unknown SIDs with known ones, or automatically update old permissions to use SIDs from the new domain.