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How to remove administrative shares in Windows Server 2008

Article ID: 954422 - View products that this article applies to.

Introduction

This article describes how to remove default administrative shares, and how to prevent these shares from being automatically created in Windows Server 2008.

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By default, Windows Server 2008 automatically creates special hidden administrative shares that administrators, programs, and services can use to manage the computer environment or network. These special shared resources are not visible in Windows Explorer or in My Computer. However, you can view them by using the Shared Folders tool in Computer Management. Depending on the configuration of your computer, some or all of the following special shared resources may be listed in the Shares folder in Shared Folders:

DriveLetter$: This is a shared root partition or volume. Shared root partitions and volumes are displayed as the drive letter name appended with the dollar sign ($). For example, when drive letters C and D are shared, they are displayed as C$ and D$.
ADMIN$: This is a resource that is used during remote administration of a computer.
IPC$: This is a resource that shares the named pipes that you must have for communication between programs. This resource cannot be deleted.
NETLOGON: This is a resource that is used on domain controllers.
SYSVOL: This is a resource that is used on domain controllers.
PRINT$: This is a resource that is used during the remote administration of printers.
FAX$: This is a shared folder on a server that is used by fax clients during fax transmission.

Note NETLOGON and SYSVOL are not hidden shares. Instead, these are special administrative shares.

Generally, we recommend that you do not modify these special shared resources. However, if you want to remove the special shared resources and prevent them from being created automatically, you can do this by editing the registry.

Remove administrative shares by editing the registry

To have us do this for you, go to the “Fix it for me” section. If you would rather fix this problem yourself, go to the “Let me fix it myself” section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then, click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50184

Notes

This wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Let me fix it myself

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To remove administrative shares and prevent them from being automatically created in Windows, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate, and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\AutoShareServer
Note The registry subkey AutoShareServer must be set as type REG_DWORD. When this value is set to 0 (zero), Windows does not automatically create administrative shares. Be aware that this does not apply to the IPC$ share or shares that you create manually.
On the Edit menu, click Modify. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Stop and then start the Server service. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. At the command prompt, type the following lines. Press Enter after each line:
  net stop server
  net start server
4. Type exit to close the Command Prompt window.

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support

(http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)

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References

For more information about how to manage shared resources by using Shared Folders in Windows Server 2008, see the Shared Folders Help files. To do this, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management. In the console tree, right-click Shared Folders, and then click Help.

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