How can I check who last opened a file?

John Savill

January 8, 2000

1 Min Read
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A. The only way I know of would be to enable auditing on the file and then examine the Security Event log for access.

In order to do this you will need the following:

  1. Enable auditing for files and folders via User Manager (Policies - Audit - Audit These Events - File and Object Access). In Windows 2000 use the Group Policy editor and edit the local policy or another GPO (Computer Configuration - Windows Settings - Security Settings - Local Policies - Audit Policy)

  2. Start Explorer

  3. Right click on the files/folders select Properties

  4. Select the Security tab

  5. Click the Advanced button

  6. Select the Audit tab

  7. Click Add

  8. Select 'Everyone'

  9. Click OK

  10. Select the actions to audit such as 'List folder/read data'

  11. Click OK

  12. Click OK to all dialogs

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