How to access C$ share in a network?

Considering I have admin access to a machine, how can I remotely access the default C$ share in Windows XP and Windows 7?

Edit: This is not a domain, it's a single machine that I need to access

Solution 1:

There are a few concerns to keep in mind:

1. This must be a computer running a Professional edition of Windows. The Home editions do not have the administrative shares enabled.
2. Many (if not most) third-party firewalls will disable the administrative shares for security reasons. Make sure that a host firewall has not disabled them.
3. If you have file sharing turned off, this won't work. In XP, make sure Advanced sharing is turned on, rather than Simple sharing. In 7, check your network settings to ensure that File and Printer Sharing is enabled. This is not the case for networks marked as Public.
4. Make sure that you are typing the path directly - Windows shares with names ending in $ are invisible and will not be sent in listings of shares. Instead, you must specify the path directly: \\MachineName\c$\.

Solution 2:

I had the same issue on Windows 7 and this solved it:
1. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
2. Create a DWORD value called LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and assign it a value of 1
3. Restart "Server" service or reboot the machine

You can also run this command from elevated cmd and than continue to step 3:

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

Credit to wibier.me