Hidden Windows NT Administrative Shares C$ D$

Registry Tip #2: Hidden Windows NT Administrative Shares C$ D$

Hits: Failed to execute CGI : Win32 Error Code = 3

The system automatically creates hidden "administrative shares" for its logical drives C:, D:, and so forth which it names C$, D$ and so forth. It also creates the admin$ hidden share for to the \winnt folder. These shares are designed for remote access support by domain administrators. By default, if you delete these admin shares, they will be recreated when you reboot. To disable permanently so they will not be recreated on the next reboot, use the following Windows NT registry hack:

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters
Name: AutoShareServer for servers
Name: AutoShareWks for workstations
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0

For background: Q156365.

Perhaps the best approach to protect hard drive resources on workstations is to disable the server service if you can. There are a few workstation applications that need server service running, in particular, some SNA emulation packages.