Cannot access c$ administrative share in Windows 10

I have two machines at work running Windows 10. From one, I can connect to the c$ administrative share, but trying to connect from the other to the first computer's c$ share fails.

I have read about the workaround for adding a registry key to enable access to administrative shares, but it seems hackish. And the first computer whose admin share I can access has no such registry key.

Is there some Windows setting I am missing to enable access to administrative shares?

4 Answers

On the computer you are having trouble connecting to, search for the Windows setting for: "Manage Advanced Sharing Settings" and make sure that "Turn on file and printer sharing" is selected for your Domain network.

Doing this will automatically enable the necessary Windows firewall rules to enable file sharing and also ping/ICMP responses.

Or, if you like, you can enable the following firewall rules yourself, as shown below. These must be configured on the computer you want to access, not the computer attempting to gain access.

Are the 2 windows you have the same type? i.e. Home vs Professional? or something else?

Windows-10 C$ share usually comes disabled by default when UAC is ON. Disabling UAC would allow you that access, since UAC isn't something you should disable especially on Windows-10 due to breaking down of other functionality and app-store apps etc, the only way left is to enable the registry key using the command below on the windows that you are trying to connect into (running from a command/DOS window with "Administrator" rights):

1. Start -> type cmd (don't hit ENTER yet)

2. Right-click on the Command Prompt as it appears on the top, and then select "Run as Administrator"

3. Type in the following command:

   REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system /v LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

4. Restart Windows.

Should work fine after that.

I hope this helps

I had this problem and yet strangely I was able to access the IP address in this form

\\10.5.0.33\c$

Whereas

\\computername\c$

still doesn't work.

I can't say its a dns issue as ping -a works fine. So if you do hit this problem accessing via the ip address might be a useful workaround for you :)

You can make this answer work, if you expand the next section "All Networks" and check the option for "Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folders" user477799: Disclaimer; This works in my environment on more than 1 machine with different subnets.