Is there a way to let them read, but not copy?

[Coolone]

I might be hosting a lan party soon, and I have a bunch of files that I have shared (patches, mods etc), but I only want people to be able to read the files, and NOT copy and paste them. If everyone decided to copy all the files at the same time, it would bring my network to its knees. Is there a setting in the permissions in sharing and security where I can have them read, but not copy? I can only see the options "Read", "Change", and "Full Control". Is there an option somewhere else to get it the way I want?

 

[IBuyUFO]

As far as I know it's not possible. If you let people have permission to read that means they can also copy the files.

 

[Cerb]

If they read a file, they are copying it. Period.

How big are all of these files? If under 4.3GB total, distribute a DVD of them to each person.

 

[oupei]

if all you care about is the network utilization, then just get filezilla server or something and just limit the download bandwidth.

 

[xtknight]

Um if they're reading/executing the files they are copying them to their memory. If you want to just have them be able to see the listed files (only directory list) it may be possible in NTFS.

 

[nova2]

consider limiting the number of users allowed to access the share.

http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22allow%20this%20number%20of%20users%22