You cannot configure NTFS permissions to hide files or folders from unauthorized users (303758)

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Returning a list of files and folders based on file permissions would require a full access check on every object in the directory. In the Windows NT and Windows 2000 distributed security model, this would use up a lot of CPU cycles and service request time. If you had more than a certain number of objects and a very complex Access Control List (ACL) structure, the Server Message Block (SMB) request might time out.

The List Folder Contents permission may be useful because it allows users to list the contents of a folder without having permission to read the files. If you assign the Read Data permission on the contents of a folder without the List Folder Contents permission on the folder itself, users receive an "Access Denied" error message in Windows Explorer or at a command prompt. Windows Explorer and the command prompt attempt to gain access to the folder before gaining access to the files that are located in the folder.

Table 12.7 on page 657 of the "Internetworking Guide" in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit contains a comparison of NetWare permissions and NTFS permissions. This table compares the File Scan (F) permission to the List Folder Contents permission. The comparison in this table is inaccurate (as described in this article).

This functionality is now available in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). The feature is known as Access Based Enumeration. For more information about this feature, visit the following Microsoft Web site: