How to Enable Admin Shares on Windows 10, 8 or 7 OS (C$, D$, etc.)
In some cases there is the need to enable the Admin Shares of local hard disks, commonly for administrative purposes. The Admin shares are the default shares (aka Administrative shares) of all disk drives (C$, D$, etc.) on a Windows computer and by default are hidden and inaccessible from the network.
Windows Vista and newer versions of Windows (Windows 7, 8 & 10) prevents local accounts from accessing administrative shares through the network. As a result of that, you receive an "access denied message" whenever you try to connect from a network computer to the default Admin shares (e.g. to C$) on a another workstation of your local network, or you receive the following error message: "Logon unsuccessful: Windows is unable to log you on. Make sure that your user name and password are correct".
In this guide you can find instructions, on how to successfully enable the default –hidden- Administrative shares of local disks, on a Windows 10, 8.1, 8 or 7 based computer.
How to enable the Default Admin Shares – C$ – on Windows 10, 8 or 7 OS.
Important: In order to access admin shares, you must ensure that Host* and Guest** computers belongs to the same Workgroup or Domain (Both have the same Workgroup or Domain name). To find that information, open Windows Explorer & right click at the Computer icon. Then select Properties in order to view (or change) the Workgroup name.
* Host computer = the computer with the Admin shares enabled.
** Guest computer = any other computer on the network that will be connect to the Admin Shares on the Host computer.
Step 1. Enable Administrator account & Set a Password.
If you want to access the Admin shares on a computer (Host), by using the "Administrator" user account, then you must enable and set a password to the Administrator account on that computer. To do that:
1. Press Windows 
+ R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type lusrmgr.msc and press Enter.
3. Open Users.
4. Right click on Administrator and select Properties.
5. Uncheck the Account is disabled checkbox and press OK.
6. Right click on Administrator account again and select Set Password.
7. Specify a password for he Administrator account and click OK.
Step 2. Enable File and Print Sharing on Windows Firewall.
The next step is to enable "File and Print Sharing" through Windows Firewall. (at Host computer)
1. Press Windows + R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type control and press Enter to open Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel: open System and Security.
4. Choose Allow an app through Windows Firewall.
5. Click Change settings.
6. Uncheck and then re-Check the File and Printer Sharing feature and then press OK.
Step 3. Add the "LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy" value in registry.
Finally modify the registry as described below (at Host computer):
1. Press Windows + R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type regedit and press OK to open Registry Editor.
3. In Registry editor, navigate from the left pane, to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
4. Right click on System key and select New –> DWORD (32-bit) value.
5. Name the new value as: LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy & press Enter.
6. Then open (double-click) the LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and set the value data to 1.
7. Close Registry editor.
8. Restart the computer.
9. Finally, after restart you'll be able to access the admin shared disk(s) on the host computer, from any other computer on your network (Guest), by typing in RUN (or SEARCH) box the name (or the IP address) of the host machine and the drive letter of the disk that you want to access, followed by the dollar ($) symbol.
e.g If you want to access the disk "C:\" on the "ComputerA", you have to type at Run box: \\ComputerA\C$
That’s all folks! Did it work for you?
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March 23, 2017 @ 12:24 am
Everything is very open with a clear clarification of the challenges. It was definitely informative. Your website is useful. Many thanks for sharing!
December 27, 2020 @ 10:50 pm
If you're deep enough to use PowerShell, the last step is simply `New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System -Name LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy -PropertyType DWORD -Value 1`
August 30, 2026 @ 11:26 am
Admin shares are such a double-edged sword super handy for network administration and remote management, but definitely something you need to handle with care security-wise. This is a really clear and straightforward guide on how to get them enabled properly without getting lost in registry settings.