How to: Disable the administrative shares in Windows

To disable the administrative shares in Windows, (default shares like C$, ADMIN$, etc.) follow these steps:

  1. Run the Registry Editor and go to the following key:

    HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

  2. Create a new DWORD, name it AutoShareWks, and leave the default value of 0.

  3. Reboot Windows.

This will disable things like C$ and ADMIN$.

I am not sure how to also delete print$ and IPC$. (net share ipc$ /delete appears to work temporarily, but the share automagically re-appears after the next reboot.)

Last updated on 2025-10-13 Mon 09:41:33 CEST