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What is UNC Path impersonation?

UNC is short for Uniform Naming Convention. It is a format for specifying the location of network resources (network share folder) on the LAN. UNC uses the following format: \\server-name\shared-resource-pathname. So, for example, to access the shared directory public on the shared server mcp0064, you would write: \\mcp0064\public.

Normally when Xlight FTP Server accesses the UNC path, it will access it with current logon user account. However the current logon user account may not have the permission to access the UNC path in another server. UNC path impersonation is used to resolve this issue. You can setup an impersonation account who is the user of another server and has enough permission to access the UNC path. In the public, user and group path setup Windows, click this icon to setup UNC path impersonation(If network path are SAMBA in UNIX, the logon domain will be workgroup name of SAMBA). After you setup UNC path impersonation, Xlight FTP Server will use the impersonation account to access this UNC path. Note: after 30-day evaluation period, this function is only supported by the Standard and Professional edition of Xlight FTP Server.

How to access network share when Xlight FTP is running as system service?

When Xlight FTP is running as system service, it is normally run using Local Administrator account. This account cannot access some of network share that Windows desktop user account can access. To access network share, you can use either one of the following two methods:

1. Using an account that can access network share to run Xlight FTP Service. If the account doesn't have administrator privileges, you can check this link for how to run Xlight FTP Service with non-admin account.

2. Using UNC path impersonation. By using UNC path impersonation, Xlight FTP can access different network share with different account. The following is a picture showed how to access Linux network share (samba) using "anonymous" account with any password.

Please note you cannot use Mapped network drive when Xlight FTP is running as service. Mapped network drive is not accessible from service program. You must use UNC path format for network share.