How to prevent users from compressing files (814922)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 SP6a
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition 4.0 SP6a
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6a

SUMMARY

If you run a network with Windows NT or Windows 2000-based file servers, when clients compress files on the servers, this causes increased CPU and memory usage. This article describes how to prevent Windows NT 4.0 clients from compressing files. For additional information about NTFS file system compression, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

251186 Best Practices for NTFS Compression in Windows

MORE INFORMATION

To prevent Windows NT 4.0 clients from compressing files, follow these steps:
  1. Log on to the computer as a local Administrator.
  2. Right-click Start, click Explore, and then locate the NT\System32 folder.
  3. In the file list, right-click the Shcompui.dll file, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
  4. Modify the Access Control List (ACL) so the group of users that you do not want to use compression do not have permissions to do so on this file. Do not use permissions settings that deny access, because this may have side effects. For example, remove Everyone from the list and keep Administrators and LocalSystem.
  5. Click OK.
You can also use a script to change the ACL on the file, for example Cacls.exe.

When a user who does not have access to the Shcompui.dll file tries to change the compression properties of a file or folder, that user receives the following error message:
Cannot load SHCOMPUI.DLL. Explorer cannot compress or uncompress at this time.
This procedure does not work for later versions of Windows. There are different solutions for these.

328597 Method for Preventing Users from Compressing Files

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/28/2005
Keywords:kbinfo KB814922
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