HOW TO: Restore Administrative Shares That Have Been Deleted

This step-by-step article describes how to restore administrative shares that have been deleted accidentally. If the administrative shares have been deleted, you can use either Registry Editor or the Poledit utility to configure Windows to automatically create the administrative shares.

How to Use Registry Editor to Restore Administrative Shares

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:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\AutoShareServer
3. Either change the value of the AutoShareServer key to 1 or delete the value.
   
   NOTE: If the AutoShareServer key is set to 0, administrative shares (such as C$, D$, Admin$, and so on) cannot be created automatically.
4. Quit Registry Editor.

How to Use the Poledit Utility to Restore Administrative Shares

1. Click Start, click Run, type poledit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Click Open Registry on the File menu.
3. Double-click Local Computer.
4. Expand Windows NT Network, and then expand Sharing (Server).
5. Click to select the Create Hidden Drive Shares (Server) check box, and then click OK.
6. Click Save on the File menu.NOTE: To install Windows 2000 Administration Tools (including Poledit.exe) on a Windows 2000 Professional-based computer, open the I386 folder on the applicable Windows 2000 Server CD, double-click the Adminpak.msi file, and then follow the instructions that are displayed in the Windows 2000 Administration Tools Setup wizard.