Can't authenticate for Windows file sharing

I'm trying to access a default administrative share

\\host\n$

hosted on a Vista Ultimate machine from a Windows 7 box (though my XP machine has the same problem). I'm prompted for a username and password, so far so good. I enter HOST\Jerph as my username (edit: it's a local administrator account) and the correct password, but I get access denied over and over again. I know the password is right. This has been happening for as long as I've had Vista on this machine.

I can successfully access explicit shares by giving Everyone read access. It does not prompt for a password in that case, as expected, but I obviously don't like doing that. How do I troubleshoot this problem?

Solution 1:

Administrative shares are disabled by default in Vista. You can enable them by browsing the registry to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Add a new DWORD called LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy with a value of 1 and reboot.

Solution 2:

It's not that administrative shares are disabled, it's that Local Administrators do not have permissions to access administrative shares over the network. It has been this way since Vista onward. You can change it with the registry entry CGA specified:

1. Click start
2. Type: regedit
3. Press enter

4. In the left, browse to the following folder:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system\

5. Right-click a blank area in the right pane

6. Click New
7. Click DWORD Value
8. Type: LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy
9. Double-click the item you just created
10. Type 1 into the box
11. Click OK
12. Restart your computer