I was shocked to learn that by typing \\[systemname]\C$ I was able to access the entire drive, including user profiles, system directories on a laptop that belongs to Win2K domain while it was connected to a workgroup at home. I later found that I was able to access any workstation in the office as easily, however with a password prompt. I was a believer that C$ was only granted to admin/system accounts. This carries great implications when connecting to a public network, how this can be resolved.
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C$ Windows Share 1
- Thread starter wmin
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biglebowski
Technical User
right click on the drive and select sharing, disable the option to "share this drive"
The two basic principles of Windows system administration:
For minor problems, reboot
For major problems, reinstall
The two basic principles of Windows system administration:
For minor problems, reboot
For major problems, reinstall
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1
- #3
Options to shut this off:
1. Unbind File and Printer sharing for Microsoft networks from the current network connection or uninstall the service if you don't use it.
2. Disable the Server and Computer Browser services (not possible if in a Microsoft networking environment).
You are right in thinking that you should only be able to access the administrative shares if your account is a local administrator on the machine, so I assume that the one you used with the home network was exactly that.
biglebowski's solution would work temporarily, but the administrative share would be reinstated at the next reboot.
John
1. Unbind File and Printer sharing for Microsoft networks from the current network connection or uninstall the service if you don't use it.
2. Disable the Server and Computer Browser services (not possible if in a Microsoft networking environment).
You are right in thinking that you should only be able to access the administrative shares if your account is a local administrator on the machine, so I assume that the one you used with the home network was exactly that.
biglebowski's solution would work temporarily, but the administrative share would be reinstated at the next reboot.
John
- Thread starter
- #4
John you are quite right, the account at home was an admin account but, what is bizarre that computer which I was using was merely part of XP workgroup, ie. part of nothing. My laptop was supposedly part of a domain, purpose of which is to isolate you from everything else that is not part of the club – not authorised. How can it be possible for any tom-dick&harry pc that is not part of the domain, without going through a sign-on service to access everything on a domain disk. Further more, when I tried to access even shared directories on my XP machine from my laptop, it complained that there was no sign on service running on that machine?! :-O
GlenJohnson
MIS
Here's a star John. You hit it on the money. I've seen this many times, so always be careful who you make part of the admin account. (There are other horror stories I could tell you about hackers, but I'm always leary of giving the wrong people the wrong ideas.)
Glen A. Johnson
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TTinChicago
Glen A. Johnson
If you're from Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin check out Tek-Tips in Chicago, Illinois Forum.
TTinChicago
octothorpe
Programmer
<insert obligatory "don't mess with the registry" disclaimer here>
Putting the following code into a .reg file and running it as an administrator will make those default shares go away without removing the ability to publish authorized shares:
Putting the following code into a .reg file and running it as an administrator will make those default shares go away without removing the ability to publish authorized shares:
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters]
"AutoShareWks"=dword:00000000
"AutoShareServer"=dword:00000000This link should answer a few questions and provide some help:
...don't forget to patch regularly, and wear glasses if you need 'em. We thank you for your support.
...don't forget to patch regularly, and wear glasses if you need 'em. We thank you for your support.
TexasSasquatch
IS-IT--Management
C$ is simply your "C" drive with a hidden attribute (the $).
In domain enviornments, Administrators can access PC's on their network via this method. It has saved me many a trip to a work station at the other end of the building when the fix is something very simple.
The fact that you are prompted for a password on the other PC's simply means that you are not part of the Administrator (either local or domain) group. If you have the proper permissions, then you would connect to it and it would become a network drive on your PC and allow you to work with the files.
Our entire domain is configured to allow remote connections such as you have described and it is set up to re-establish those same shares upon a reboot.
Texas Sasquatch...
Gooney goo goo!
In domain enviornments, Administrators can access PC's on their network via this method. It has saved me many a trip to a work station at the other end of the building when the fix is something very simple.
The fact that you are prompted for a password on the other PC's simply means that you are not part of the Administrator (either local or domain) group. If you have the proper permissions, then you would connect to it and it would become a network drive on your PC and allow you to work with the files.
Our entire domain is configured to allow remote connections such as you have described and it is set up to re-establish those same shares upon a reboot.
Texas Sasquatch...
Gooney goo goo!
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