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NT Workstation changed to shared itself

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by rcoleman

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I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to ask this question, but looking over the choices was not sure where to list it. I'm running NT4 with SP6. For some reason, it automatically keeps switching over to to share C, WINNT, and F which is the onlyother partition. At one time I installed software to access other computers over the internet. Is this, or something like it messing with my setting? Or is there possibly something more sinister going on here (virus)? I'm about ready to reformatanyway, but would like to know how to fix the problem if it pops up at a later date
Thanks
Roland

5 replies

by jkeller

Does the share name have a $ behind it? NT automatically shares the C drive, WINNT dir, and any other partitions as administrative or hidden shares. This is what the $ sign behind a share means. These are default. If you want to secure the shares, remove everyone from the permissions and give only administrators access.

by rcoleman

Thank you for putting my mind at ease! Even a month ago it didn't show up as shared, in fact something was messed up on the installation and we couldn't hook it up to a network if we wanted too! Whatever was that problem was worked itself out so seeing the shared symbol made me think it had kicked in too good!

While both answers are right, Answer 2 was a lot more helpful and answered other question I had but didn't ask. Since both your questions answered the question I did ask, thanks a lot!
Roland

by heartyguffaw

Go to a command prompt and type:
NET SHARE
You'll see that:
C:\ is shared as C$
F:\ is shared as F$
WINNT is shared as ADMIN$

These are all hidden shares that NT creates when NT is initially loaded. It is normal. They are all used by system resources.

You won't be able to change the shared permissions on the share; NT won't let you.

Since the access to the computer is a combination of the security on the NT Share and of the NTFS permissions, you at least have some level of security. You need to make sure you've taken a few precautions when having your system connected to the internet:

- Disable the GUEST account
- Change the default ADMINISTRATOR password, or better yet, rename the ADMINISTRATOR account (Don't deleteit)
- Make sure any user accounts (and the Administrator account) you have built are using passwords that can't be guessed.

You might also want to add a basic level of firewall protection. www.zonealarm.com has both a full blown firewall protection program and a free version.

by rcoleman

Thanks for going the extra mile and answering questions I had but didn't take the time to ask! Much appreciated!
Roland

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