We have a very simple Server 2008R2 setup. The server is not on a domain, just a workgroup. This is a small office with about 25 employees. The server functions mostly as a file server, but does do RDP as well (another issue for another post). I am the server admin. We have one folder with a whole bunch of sub-folders in it....we call it "shared". "Shared" is where all the company data is stored and worked with every day by all users, and therefore the group called"users" has full control. "Shared" is shared with everyone this way.
Here is what is going on: if I physically go over to the office and log on to the server console and add users or change passwords or whatever, everything is fine. However if I remote-desktop into the server to add a user account or even simply change a user's password, for some odd reason the "users" group is removed from people who have access to "shared" in shared's security tab and therefor everyone is locked out of that folder. If I proceed to log on and actually check it, usually what I find is that "shared" is still shared...and on the security tab in the list of users/groups who have access to it "administrators" is there, and one other user is there -- usually the user that I was just messing with. The group called "Users" is gone. So then I have to RE-ADD the "users" group and give them full control in order for everyone to once again have access. I don't understand how or why this is happening and again, it only happens if I have REMOTED IN to the server via remote desktop. It happens if I log on as me (I am an administrator) and it happens even if I log on as "administrator". However if I physically go to the office and log on to the console to do these changes, it's fine. Why would remote-desktopping have anything to do with that and why would it cause the "users" group to be removed from that folder and then put in just the one user that I was working with? It seems like it happens once they log on. Previously we had a Server 2003 server and it was set up exactly the same way and we never had any kind of problem like this.
I have searched and asked and searched and searched some more for an answer and I can't find anything like this. It's a very simple setup. The server is not set up on a domain or as a domain controller. I have a folder that I share with everyone in the group "users" and yet if I remote-desktop into the server to add another user or change a user's password, then that user when they log on will have access to the shared folder but no one else except admins. It just doesn't make any sense. Any ideas on why this is happening and how to fix it??