I have a win7 Pro server and 2 win7 Pro laptops and and from the laptops can reach all the the shared folders on our server except the server itself (C:). The C: is shared with permissions are set on server, and the workgroup has the same name.
Last edited by Tipiford; 16 Jun 2016 at 07:32. Reason: html correction
If you really need to access the entire drive I would investigate the built-in admin shares with the $ after the drive, as in C$ D$ etc..
In XP and earlier I had no trouble sharing drives. In Vista and later it was a hassle. I had a docking station I used with internal HDs. Sharing the whole drive was such a pita that I made a folder at the root of the drive, moved the entire folder structure into it, then shared that folder. Things were much easier. Of course the system partition cannot be treated the same way. See what you can find on built in admin shares with the dollar symbol after the name.
Thanx, MilesAhead. I'm not finding "$" after any drives (or folders). On certain folders I do find "$."If you really need to access the entire drive I would investigate the built-in admin shares with the $ after the drive, as in C$ D$ etc..
My problem is I have way too many mapped network drives (on external HDs), and would like to map the C: to be able to look in any folder on our server. I had this working at one point, so I can't imagine what has changed to keep me out.
It is my understanding the administrative shares are hidden. One has to do
net use x: \\machinename\C$
as example, to share them. Also they can be enabled and disabled. Perhaps they became disabled somehow.
How to enable $Admin Shares in Windows 7 - wintips.org - Windows Tips & How-tos
Thanx, MilesAheadIt is my understanding the administrative shares are hidden. One has to do
net use x: \\machinename\C$
There are no hidden shares on our server, and using "run \\server\c$" gets an access denied error, and the net use command gives System error 1219 has occurred.
Further investigation shows I can reach the server from the other laptop, but not from the one denied access, pointing to the issue being only the denied laptop. Thus far, I have been unsuccessful finding where this issue might be found in the registry; where I'm assuming the issue resides.
The Laptop denied access, is the user account part of the Administrator group or the built in Administrator account itself? From what I understand the drive$ shares are only accessible from Administrator.
I don't understand the question. I have changed all permissions to my user account with full control (the fact that one machine has full access and the other is denied access, places the issue on the denied machine, right?). The machine that has no issue is a 32 bit, and the one with the issue is a 64 bit. (It's my understanding that the 64 bit has more control over network policy than does 32 bit, and should have greater control over it.) Hey, MilesAhead, thanx for sticking in here.The Laptop denied access, is the user account part of the Administrator group or the built in Administrator account itself? From what I understand the drive$ shares are only accessible from Administrator.
Total left field option ...
have you thought of remote access to the actual server rather than sharing drives? this is what I always use as it gives full access without the overhead of shares
any ways ...
There are two levels of administrator in Windows after Vista, the member of the administrator's group, which is what you are normally assigned as first user or from the users control panel applet, these are limited and also are controlled by the UAC (user account control). there is also an additional Administrator user - this user is not affected by the UAC and is the same as the old XP and previous system. This user is normally blocked and needs to be activated
Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable
This administrator is the only one that has access to the C$ type system shares
you would need to activate and run as this admin on both the server and your local system to get things to work which is a rather dangerous way to operate as it would circumvent many security features
An interesting approach. Just from curiosity I wonder if I made a folder on C:\ named OnlyForSharingRoot or something, at the top level, and made it a link to C:\ if that would in fact share the C: drive. I have done much more with links on Linux than in Windows and haven't tried anything like that.
Miles, windows symbolic links work just the same as those in Linux so your idea should work, though it could be subject to recursion errors - attaching to the link would actually attach to it's parent that would confuse me , not sure how windows would react
My suggestion was to treat the server in this case the same as a Headless server as found in many networks. it would be a little different from a "proper" Server but windows pro versions can operate as a RDP server and client so would allow the network admin full access to the servers as if they were sitting in front of it
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