Every time I connect my external USB drive, an L$ administrative share is (re)created for it, thus preventing "safe removal" of the drive -- every time I need to disconnect the drive I first need to launch an elevated command prompt from which I run "NET SHARE L$ /D". How comes? How can I get rid of this administrative share forever (without disabling the needed admin shares on the fixed HDDs)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_share Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System Name: LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy Data Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1 change the value to 0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_share Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System Name: LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy Data Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1 change the value to 0 (create the key if not exist)

Hi, Please understand the Administrative Share is not enabled by default in Windows 7. I would like to verify if you enabled it. Would you please let me know if you changed drive letter for the removable drive? In addition, what exactly error message is received when trying to safe remove the drive? Let's first check the filter driver referring to the following steps. Delete filter driver ----------------------- 1. Click the Start Button, type "regedit" (without quotation marks) in the Start Search box and then press ENTER. 2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} 3. Right click the {36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} entry, choose "Export", select Desktop in the Save in box and type backup in File Name. Click Save. Please Note: The backup file is on the Desktop and named backup.reg. We can simply restore the registry by double-clicking the backup.reg file. 4. Highlight this key ({36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}), un the right pane, and then check if Upperfilters and Lowerfilters value are present. If so, please right click on the values and select "Delete" to remove them. 5. Restart the computer If the issue persists, let's perform a Clean Boot to check if the safe removal works. Please also temporarily disable security programs. Regards, SimidaPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, Please understand the Administrative Share is not enabled by default in Windows 7. I would like to verify if you enabled it. Would you please let me know if you changed drive letter for the removable drive? In addition, what exactly error message is received when trying to safe remove the drive? Let's first check the filter driver referring to the following steps. Delete filter driver ----------------------- 1. Click the Start Button, type "regedit" (without quotation marks) in the Start Search box and then press ENTER. 2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} 3. Right click the {36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} entry, choose "Export", select Desktop in the Save in box and type backup in File Name. Click Save. Please Note: The backup file is on the Desktop and named backup.reg. We can simply restore the registry by double-clicking the backup.reg file. 4. Highlight this key ({36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}), un the right pane, and then check if Upperfilters and Lowerfilters value are present. If so, please right click on the values and select "Delete" to remove them. 5. Restart the computer If the issue persists, let's perform a Clean Boot to check if the safe removal works. Please also temporarily disable security programs. Regards, SimidaPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, Thx for getting back to me. First of all: Admin shares [for physical drives, most notably the system partition] are required by our IT staff as part of their mechanisms for remote software installation / monitoring / troubleshooting. So I cannot disable them altogether, I just want to get rid of the admin share that gets created when I connect my external USB HDD. There are no upper or lower filters in that key. Here's the complete dump: --------------8<---------------- Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}] "Class"="USB" "ClassDesc"="@%SystemRoot%\\System32\\SysClass.Dll,-3025" @="Universal Serial Bus controllers" "IconPath"=hex(7):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\ 00,65,00,74,00,75,00,70,00,61,00,70,00,69,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\ 2d,00,32,00,30,00,00,00,00,00 "NoInstallClass"="1" "LowerLogoVersion"="5.2" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0000] "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBHubPropPageProvider" "InfPath"="usbport.inf" "InfSection"="ROOTHUB.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\root_hub20" "DriverDesc"="USB Root Hub" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0001] "Controller"=hex:01 "InfPath"="oem4.inf" "InfSection"="INTEL_USB2_CTTB" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Intel" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,13,29,29,21,ca,01 "DriverDate"="8-20-2009" "DriverVersion"="9.1.1.1020" "MatchingDeviceId"="pci\\ven_8086&dev_3b34" "DriverDesc"="Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3B34" "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBControllerPropPageProvider" "IncludedInfs"=hex(7):75,00,73,00,62,00,70,00,6f,00,72,00,74,00,2e,00,69,00,6e,\ 00,66,00,00,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0002] "Controller"=hex:01 "InfPath"="oem4.inf" "InfSection"="INTEL_USB2_CTTB" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Intel" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,13,29,29,21,ca,01 "DriverDate"="8-20-2009" "DriverVersion"="9.1.1.1020" "MatchingDeviceId"="pci\\ven_8086&dev_3b3c" "DriverDesc"="Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3B3C" "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBControllerPropPageProvider" "IncludedInfs"=hex(7):75,00,73,00,62,00,70,00,6f,00,72,00,74,00,2e,00,69,00,6e,\ 00,66,00,00,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0003] "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBHubPropPageProvider" "InfPath"="usbport.inf" "InfSection"="ROOTHUB.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\root_hub20" "DriverDesc"="USB Root Hub" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0004] "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBHubPropPageProvider" "InfPath"="usb.inf" "InfSection"="StandardHub.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_09" "DriverDesc"="Generic USB Hub" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0005] "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBHubPropPageProvider" "InfPath"="usb.inf" "InfSection"="StandardHub.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_09" "DriverDesc"="Generic USB Hub" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0006] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0007] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0008] "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBHubPropPageProvider" "InfPath"="usb.inf" "InfSection"="StandardHub.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_09" "DriverDesc"="Generic USB Hub" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0009] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0011] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0012] "InfPath"="usb.inf" "InfSection"="BADDEVICE.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\unknown" "DriverDesc"="Unknown Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0013] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0014] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0015] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0016] "EnumPropPages32"="usbui.dll,USBHubPropPageProvider" "InfPath"="usb.inf" "InfSection"="StandardHub.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_09" "DriverDesc"="Generic USB Hub" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0017] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0018] "InfPath"="usb.inf" "InfSection"="BADDEVICE.Dev" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\unknown" "DriverDesc"="Unknown Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0019] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0020] "DriverFlags"=dword:00000001 "InfPath"="usbstor.inf" "InfSection"="USBSTOR_BULK" "InfSectionExt"=".NT" "ProviderName"="Microsoft" "DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,8c,a3,c5,94,c6,01 "DriverDate"="6-21-2006" "DriverVersion"="6.1.7600.16385" "MatchingDeviceId"="usb\\class_08&subclass_06&prot_50" "DriverDesc"="USB Mass Storage Device" --------------8<---------------- I didn't precisely change the drive letter, but I use USBDLM (http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html) to be sure I always get the same letter, no matter where I connect the drive and what other USB drives are already connected. Now that you ask me what error message I get... I must confess that I don't get any if I use the "Safely remove hardware" wizard. I need to eject the drive from a shell script so I use RemoveDrive (http://www.uwe-sieber.de/drivetools_e.html) and noticed (on the day I posted) I was getting a failure, unless I first deleted the admin share for that drive (Process Monitor told me that System was holding a handle...).... Now as I'm typing this it seems I cannot repro the issue anymore... even with the admin share present, RemoveDrive always works... Maybe something else was running that *used* the admin share without me being aware? Sorry for the confusion... Any clues? Regards, Stéphane

Hi, Please understand the Administrative Share is not enabled by default in Windows 7. I would like to verify if you enabled it. Would you please let me know if you changed drive letter for the removable drive? In addition, what exactly error message is received when trying to safe remove the drive? Let's first check the filter driver referring to the following steps. Delete filter driver ----------------------- 1. Click the Start Button, type "regedit" (without quotation marks) in the Start Search box and then press ENTER. 2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} 3. Right click the {36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} entry, choose "Export", select Desktop in the Save in box and type backup in File Name. Click Save. Please Note: The backup file is on the Desktop and named backup.reg. We can simply restore the registry by double-clicking the backup.reg file. 4. Highlight this key ({36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}), un the right pane, and then check if Upperfilters and Lowerfilters value are present. If so, please right click on the values and select "Delete" to remove them. 5. Restart the computer If the issue persists, let's perform a Clean Boot to check if the safe removal works. Please also temporarily disable security programs. Regards, SimidaPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Stéphane, I know you just want to disable the removable drive auto share. Please add the following registry key to check if it works. Locate to the following registry. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters In the right pane, select Edit -> New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type AutoShareWks and press Enter. (You can leave this setting with its default value of 0.) Restart Windows to put the new setting into effect. Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Isn't this supposed to disable admin shares altogether? Or just their creation if they don't exist?

Hi Stéphane, I know you just want to disable the removable drive auto share. Please add the following registry key to check if it works. Locate to the following registry. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters In the right pane, select Edit -> New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type AutoShareWks and press Enter. (You can leave this setting with its default value of 0.) Restart Windows to put the new setting into effect. Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hello sba, As far as you question about disabling admins shares, you are correct, the admin shares are either enabled or disabled per system. You cannot disable them per drive. I'm glad you are no longer seeing the issue. There are any number of processes, including potential third party services that may have had a handle to the drive and caused you to need to delete the share. If the issue returns, please update the thread. Regards, Clark Satter Microsoft Online Community Support Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hello sba, As far as you question about disabling admins shares, you are correct, the admin shares are either enabled or disabled per system. You cannot disable them per drive. I'm glad you are no longer seeing the issue. There are any number of processes, including potential third party services that may have had a handle to the drive and caused you to need to delete the share. If the issue returns, please update the thread. Regards, Clark Satter Microsoft Online Community Support Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.