A network share on a Microsoft network that is not visible when viewing another computer's shares; however, it is still accessible if the name of the hidden share is known. Default Microsoft Windows hidden shares Examples of Microsoft Windows default hidden share are: ADMIN$ - The default systemroot or Windows directory.
C$ and x$ - The default drive share, by default C$ is always enabled. x$ represents any other partitions or drives found by Windows that will also be shared, e.g. D$, E$, etc.
FAX$ - Share used by fax clients to access cover pages and other files on a file server.
IPC$ - See our IPC definition for additional information about IPC.
PRINT$ - Share used by printers, enabling remote administration on printers.
Creating a Microsoft Windows hidden share A Microsoft Windows hidden share is created by adding a "$" symbol to the end of the name of the share. For example, if you were sharing a folder named "hope", when creating the shared name adding a "$" to the end of hope, so the shared name is "hope$", will make a hidden share. Accessing a Microsoft Windows hidden share Assuming we were attempting to access the "hope$" share that we created in the above example from another computer we would type the below network path to access the hidden share. //<computer_name>/hope$ Viewing Microsoft Windows hidden shares Hidden shares give the users a false impression that the share cannot be found unless it is known. Although this may be true for most users, a user can still obtain numerous programs available on the Internet that enable a user to view all shares regardless if they are hidden
or not. If you are creating a hidden share to protect sensitive data it is recommend you password protect the share instead of making it hidden. An easy method for users to display any hidden shares on their computer is to use the net use command.
- Additional information about mapping a network drive can be found on document CH000472.
- See document CH000534 for information about viewing your network shares.
- Additional information about how to share a drive or folders in Windows can be found on document CH000535.
- See document CH001054 for additional information about deleting and re-enabling deleted Windows hidden shares.
Also see: Hidden files, Network definitions | 
