Sharing C$ (Pro)

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(Edited by Jon_Rick on 21-Mar-04 01:50. Added URL)

I am using WinXP Pro and am connected to my college’s network, though I am the only one who uses my computer.

In exploring XP, I right-clicked my hard drive (C:) and selected Properties. What I saw on the Sharing tab surprised me: the “Share this folder” circle was selected!

(The “share name” is “C$”, the “comment” is “default share”, the “user limit” is “maximum allowed”. Clicking the Permissions button produces the following message: “This has been shared for administrative purposes. The permissions cannot be set.”)

Obviously, I do not want to share this folder”–if by folder is meant “hard drive”–so I selected “Do not share this folder,” after which the following message appeared:

“This share was created for administrative purposes only. The share will reappear when the Server service is stopped and restarted or the computer is rebooted. Are you sure you wish to stop sharing C$?”

If I click Yes, the option changes to Do not share. After rebooting, however, the option reverts to Share.

Does anyone know what this is all about? What’s causing it? How do I stop it? Thank you very much!

Update: Google turned up this Web site, but I’m unable to make sense of the info there.

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The administrative share is for corporate use, primarily, to allow network administrators to access the system. Windows XP is based off of the Windows NT code base, which historically was a corporate operating system. However, rest assured that for anyone to be able to connect to that share, which will be re-created on each reboot after you remove it, they would need to know your username and password.

If you want to disable it permanently, I think the answer you are looking for is documented here.

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Mark is entirely correct. I spend much of my time at work connecting to the C: drives of remote NT4 and W2K workstations (and sometimes servers) for various administrative purposes, using either C$ or ADMIN$, as the mood takes me, quite often using BATch files. (Usually C$, because it is less typing…!)

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Mark is entirely correct. I spend much of my time at work connecting to the C: drives of remote NT4 and W2K workstations (and sometimes servers) for various administrative purposes, using either C$ or ADMIN$, as the mood takes me, quite often using BATch files. (Usually C$, because it is less typing…!)

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Hi, I do not know why, but ANYONE logged on our Domain at work can access ANYONE else’s C$ share (if they know how to). This surely cant be right?

Most users are members of their local machine’s admin group, but even with those who aren’t, they can access my C$…. whats going on?

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I guess that would depend on the domain policy. Any idea what that might be? Remember, domain-level policies override the local workstation settings. I can only imagine that this was done on purpose/accidentally at that level — else, how would it affect so many machines?

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Hi, thanks. yes of course – just checked with main domain admin – they are aware of this ‘problem!!’ Apparently it was set by someone who didnt realise the implications and a fix is being worked on. Cheers.

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I wonder if any of those “implications” include loss of work, etc?

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The administrative share is for corporate use, primarily, to allow network administrators to access the system. Windows XP is based off of the Windows NT code base, which historically was a corporate operating system. However, rest assured that for anyone to be able to connect to that share, which will be re-created on each reboot after you remove it, they would need to know your username and password.

If you want to disable it permanently, I think the answer you are looking for is documented here.

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MS has an explanation of “Special Shared Resources” and says that they are created for system and administrative use. Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Help>Help Topics>Contents Tab>Expand Shared Folders>Expand Concepts>Expand Understanding Shared Folders and click on Special shared resources.

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MS has an explanation of “Special Shared Resources” and says that they are created for system and administrative use. Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Help>Help Topics>Contents Tab>Expand Shared Folders>Expand Concepts>Expand Understanding Shared Folders and click on Special shared resources.

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To prevent access to shares on your computer, turn off sharing globally by turning off File and Print Sharing in the network settings.

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To prevent access to shares on your computer, turn off sharing globally by turning off File and Print Sharing in the network settings.

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