Sharing a computer versus its drives?

[Blue Max]

Is there anyway to share a whole computer, rather than just its separate
drives in a peer-to-peer network (wired and wireless) configuration? Often
we would like for the administrator to have network icons in 'Network
Places' that would simply connect the administrator to the connected laptop,
including all its drives, rather than having to create an icon or line entry
for each separate drive on the client laptop. Can this be done in some
fashion by creating a share for the computer rather than just its drives?

 

[Steven L Umbach]

For XP Pro and XP Media that have simple file sharing disabled an
administrator can access the "hidden" shares on the remote computer assuming
any host firewall allows access to file and print sharing. Each drive is
shared such as C$ where the $ indicates that it is hidden. The hidden
administrative shares can be accessed only by administrators. To easily
access such a share the administrator could enter \\computername\c$ in the
run box or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\c$ where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of
the share access is wanted to. Such will not work on XP Home as XP Home can
only use simple file sharing. You can open Computer Management and go to
shared folders/shares to see hidden administrative shares that would exist
by default or use the command net share at the command line. Below is an
example of the output for that command on my Windows XP Pro computer. No you
can not create a share for the whole computer per se though you can enter
\\computername or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in the run box [or create a shortcut] to
see all non hidden shares on a remote computer if that helps. An
administrator can also use Computer Management - connect to another computer
to see detailed info on a remote computer that he has administrative rights
and network access to.

Steve


D:\WINDOWS\system32>net share

Share name Resource Remark

----------------------------------------------------------------
E$ E:\ Default share
IPC$ Remote IPC
D$ D:\ Default share
print$ D:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
H$ H:\ Default share
C$ C:\ Default share
G$ G:\ Default share
F$ F:\ Default share
ADMIN$ D:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
SteveMP3 H:\SteveMP3
hpdeskjet LPT1: Spooled hp deskjet 960c
The command completed successfully.

 

[Jim]

Is there anyway to share a whole computer, rather than just its separate
drives in a peer-to-peer network (wired and wireless) configuration?
Often we would like for the administrator to have network icons in
'Network Places' that would simply connect the administrator to the
connected laptop, including all its drives, rather than having to create
an icon or line entry for each separate drive on the client laptop. Can
this be done in some fashion by creating a share for the computer rather
than just its drives?

It certainly could be done. It has been done with other operating systems.
However, doing so requires lots and lots and lots of code.
The people who designed NT certainly knew about the techniques, but they
decided that it would not be cost effective to include this functionality.
Jim

 

[Blue Max]

Thanks, Jim. An unfortunate decision on Microsoft's behalf since it would
be a great advantage to administrators who would only need one shortcut per
computer rather than one for each drive!

********************************

 

[Blue Max]

Thank you again, Steven, some more good ideas. However, a couple more
questions if you don't mind? FIRST, is there way to connect using a MAC
address rather than an IP address? Our IP addresses are dynamically
assigned and tend to change, so a MAC address would be more static. SECOND,
when you assign a new share to a drive, isn't the old default system share
overwritten for that drive? In our experience, many new computers have the
default system share for each drive, but it appears to be removed when you
create a new non-hidden share name? THIRD, which 'Run' box are you
referring to below?

Thanks

*******************************************

For XP Pro and XP Media that have simple file sharing disabled an
administrator can access the "hidden" shares on the remote computer
assuming any host firewall allows access to file and print sharing. Each
drive is shared such as C$ where the $ indicates that it is hidden. The
hidden administrative shares can be accessed only by administrators. To
easily access such a share the administrator could enter \\computername\c$
in the run box or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\c$ where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP
address of the share access is wanted to. Such will not work on XP Home as
XP Home can only use simple file sharing. You can open Computer Management
and go to shared folders/shares to see hidden administrative shares that
would exist by default or use the command net share at the command line.
Below is an example of the output for that command on my Windows XP Pro
computer. No you can not create a share for the whole computer per se
though you can enter \\computername or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in the run box
[or create a shortcut] to see all non hidden shares on a remote computer
if that helps. An administrator can also use Computer Management - connect
to another computer to see detailed info on a remote computer that he has
administrative rights and network access to.

Steve


D:\WINDOWS\system32>net share

Share name Resource Remark

----------------------------------------------------------------
E$ E:\ Default share
IPC$ Remote IPC
D$ D:\ Default share
print$ D:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
H$ H:\ Default share
C$ C:\ Default share
G$ G:\ Default share
F$ F:\ Default share
ADMIN$ D:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
SteveMP3 H:\SteveMP3
hpdeskjet LPT1: Spooled hp deskjet 960c
The command completed successfully.

Is there anyway to share a whole computer, rather than just its separate
drives in a peer-to-peer network (wired and wireless) configuration?
Often we would like for the administrator to have network icons in
'Network Places' that would simply connect the administrator to the
connected laptop, including all its drives, rather than having to create
an icon or line entry for each separate drive on the client laptop. Can
this be done in some fashion by creating a share for the computer rather
than just its drives?

 

[Jim]

Thanks, Jim. An unfortunate decision on Microsoft's behalf since it would
be a great advantage to administrators who would only need one shortcut
per computer rather than one for each drive!

********************************

Adding the code requires extensive changes throughout the system. It adds
both complexity and cost. Added cost is the primary reason here.
Jim

 

[Steven L Umbach]

I don't know of a way to use a MAC address but usually computer names are
used to specify a share location as they stay the same even if the IP
address changes unless and admin purposely changes a computer name. While
you should be able to have multiple shares for the same folder I have never
tried it to see how well it works and a quick test shows at least for me
that the default admin drive remains. The run box is the one that you
normally see as an option when you select start in the lower right hand
corner or when you hold down the Windows key and r at the same time.

Steve

Thank you again, Steven, some more good ideas. However, a couple more
questions if you don't mind? FIRST, is there way to connect using a MAC
address rather than an IP address? Our IP addresses are dynamically
assigned and tend to change, so a MAC address would be more static.
SECOND, when you assign a new share to a drive, isn't the old default
system share overwritten for that drive? In our experience, many new
computers have the default system share for each drive, but it appears to
be removed when you create a new non-hidden share name? THIRD, which
'Run' box are you referring to below?

Thanks

*******************************************

For XP Pro and XP Media that have simple file sharing disabled an
administrator can access the "hidden" shares on the remote computer
assuming any host firewall allows access to file and print sharing. Each
drive is shared such as C$ where the $ indicates that it is hidden. The
hidden administrative shares can be accessed only by administrators. To
easily access such a share the administrator could enter
\\computername\c$ in the run box or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\c$ where
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of the share access is wanted to. Such
will not work on XP Home as XP Home can only use simple file sharing. You
can open Computer Management and go to shared folders/shares to see
hidden administrative shares that would exist by default or use the
command net share at the command line. Below is an example of the output
for that command on my Windows XP Pro computer. No you can not create a
share for the whole computer per se though you can enter \\computername
or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in the run box [or create a shortcut] to see all non
hidden shares on a remote computer if that helps. An administrator can
also use Computer Management - connect to another computer to see
detailed info on a remote computer that he has administrative rights and
network access to.

Steve


D:\WINDOWS\system32>net share

Share name Resource Remark

----------------------------------------------------------------
E$ E:\ Default share
IPC$ Remote IPC
D$ D:\ Default share
print$ D:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
H$ H:\ Default share
C$ C:\ Default share
G$ G:\ Default share
F$ F:\ Default share
ADMIN$ D:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
SteveMP3 H:\SteveMP3
hpdeskjet LPT1: Spooled hp deskjet 960c
The command completed successfully.

Is there anyway to share a whole computer, rather than just its separate
drives in a peer-to-peer network (wired and wireless) configuration?
Often we would like for the administrator to have network icons in
'Network Places' that would simply connect the administrator to the
connected laptop, including all its drives, rather than having to create
an icon or line entry for each separate drive on the client laptop. Can
this be done in some fashion by creating a share for the computer rather
than just its drives?

 

[Blue Max]

Thanks, Steven, all this was very helpful.

***********************************

I don't know of a way to use a MAC address but usually computer names are
used to specify a share location as they stay the same even if the IP
address changes unless and admin purposely changes a computer name. While
you should be able to have multiple shares for the same folder I have never
tried it to see how well it works and a quick test shows at least for me
that the default admin drive remains. The run box is the one that you
normally see as an option when you select start in the lower right hand
corner or when you hold down the Windows key and r at the same time.

Steve

Thank you again, Steven, some more good ideas. However, a couple more
questions if you don't mind? FIRST, is there way to connect using a MAC
address rather than an IP address? Our IP addresses are dynamically
assigned and tend to change, so a MAC address would be more static.
SECOND, when you assign a new share to a drive, isn't the old default
system share overwritten for that drive? In our experience, many new
computers have the default system share for each drive, but it appears to
be removed when you create a new non-hidden share name? THIRD, which
'Run' box are you referring to below?

Thanks

*******************************************

For XP Pro and XP Media that have simple file sharing disabled an
administrator can access the "hidden" shares on the remote computer
assuming any host firewall allows access to file and print sharing. Each
drive is shared such as C$ where the $ indicates that it is hidden. The
hidden administrative shares can be accessed only by administrators. To
easily access such a share the administrator could enter
\\computername\c$ in the run box or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\c$ where
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of the share access is wanted to. Such
will not work on XP Home as XP Home can only use simple file sharing.
You can open Computer Management and go to shared folders/shares to see
hidden administrative shares that would exist by default or use the
command net share at the command line. Below is an example of the output
for that command on my Windows XP Pro computer. No you can not create a
share for the whole computer per se though you can enter \\computername
or \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in the run box [or create a shortcut] to see all
non hidden shares on a remote computer if that helps. An administrator
can also use Computer Management - connect to another computer to see
detailed info on a remote computer that he has administrative rights and
network access to.

Steve


D:\WINDOWS\system32>net share

Share name Resource Remark

----------------------------------------------------------------
E$ E:\ Default share
IPC$ Remote IPC
D$ D:\ Default share
print$ D:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
H$ H:\ Default share
C$ C:\ Default share
G$ G:\ Default share
F$ F:\ Default share
ADMIN$ D:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
SteveMP3 H:\SteveMP3
hpdeskjet LPT1: Spooled hp deskjet 960c
The command completed successfully.



Is there anyway to share a whole computer, rather than just its
separate drives in a peer-to-peer network (wired and wireless)
configuration? Often we would like for the administrator to have
network icons in 'Network Places' that would simply connect the
administrator to the connected laptop, including all its drives, rather
than having to create an icon or line entry for each separate drive on
the client laptop. Can this be done in some fashion by creating a
share for the computer rather than just its drives?