Security rights of copied files

[bkoopers]

When files are copied on network drives of my Windows 2003 server, the Active Directory file Security Rights sometimes retain the security rights of the source location and sometimes adapt the security rights of the target folder.

Under what conditions should a copied file retain the security rights of the source location and under what conditions should a copied file adapt the security rights of the target folder? Is there a way to control which set of those two sets of security rights the copied file will have?

Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

 

[PainOfDeath]

If you click on the Advanced button of the Security tab on any folder, you will see a checkbox for allowing permissions to propagate. If this is checked then subfolders and files that are created within that folder will inherit the permissions of that folder. So you can use that checkbox to control what happens when you copy files.