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Missing Admin Shares


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Posted

Hi,

 

I am experiencing a strange problem on a large number of XP machines on our

domain.

 

At least half of our PCs (both notebooks and desktops) are missing the

administrative shares in Windows XP (C$ and Admin$) on a daily basis. It

seems that the following key gets reset back to 0 (instead of 1) on a regular

basis, with no intervention from us or the user. This key enables or disables

the Admin shares:-

 

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters

Name: AutoShareWks for workstations

Type: REG_DWORD

Value: 1 (on) 0 (off)

 

As far as I'm aware, we have no virus infection that could cause this and

have nothing in any logon scripts at start-up which could cause this. I

cannot see anything in Group Policy which could do this, but will be happy to

be proved wrong!

 

Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated, we're tearing our

hair out here!

 

Regards

 

Ox

Guest Roger Abell [MVP]
Posted

Have you used GPMC to do a resultant policy view for an

affected system to make sure it is not carried by policy ?

 

"Oxo" <Oxo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:DDFD4D37-5779-4A82-9E74-AE63D2CEA0C7@microsoft.com...

> Hi,

>

> I am experiencing a strange problem on a large number of XP machines on

> our

> domain.

>

> At least half of our PCs (both notebooks and desktops) are missing the

> administrative shares in Windows XP (C$ and Admin$) on a daily basis. It

> seems that the following key gets reset back to 0 (instead of 1) on a

> regular

> basis, with no intervention from us or the user. This key enables or

> disables

> the Admin shares:-

>

> Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

> Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters

> Name: AutoShareWks for workstations

> Type: REG_DWORD

> Value: 1 (on) 0 (off)

>

> As far as I'm aware, we have no virus infection that could cause this and

> have nothing in any logon scripts at start-up which could cause this. I

> cannot see anything in Group Policy which could do this, but will be happy

> to

> be proved wrong!

>

> Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated, we're tearing our

> hair out here!

>

> Regards

>

> Ox

Posted

Thanks for replying Roger,

 

Yes we have run a resultant policy settings view, and could find nothing

that could affect the admin shares in this way. I'm not even sure that this

option is available in Group policy anyway (happy to be corrected on this

point if anyone knows different!)

 

Cheers

 

Ox

 

"Roger Abell [MVP]" wrote:

> Have you used GPMC to do a resultant policy view for an

> affected system to make sure it is not carried by policy ?

>

> "Oxo" <Oxo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:DDFD4D37-5779-4A82-9E74-AE63D2CEA0C7@microsoft.com...

> > Hi,

> >

> > I am experiencing a strange problem on a large number of XP machines on

> > our

> > domain.

> >

> > At least half of our PCs (both notebooks and desktops) are missing the

> > administrative shares in Windows XP (C$ and Admin$) on a daily basis. It

> > seems that the following key gets reset back to 0 (instead of 1) on a

> > regular

> > basis, with no intervention from us or the user. This key enables or

> > disables

> > the Admin shares:-

> >

> > Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

> > Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters

> > Name: AutoShareWks for workstations

> > Type: REG_DWORD

> > Value: 1 (on) 0 (off)

> >

> > As far as I'm aware, we have no virus infection that could cause this and

> > have nothing in any logon scripts at start-up which could cause this. I

> > cannot see anything in Group Policy which could do this, but will be happy

> > to

> > be proved wrong!

> >

> > Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated, we're tearing our

> > hair out here!

> >

> > Regards

> >

> > Ox

>

>

>

Guest Roger Abell [MVP]
Posted

It is not "built into" group policy as shipped, but the Windows

Server 2003 Security Guide provides this as one of the setting

one might want to add to the Security Options section, with full

instructions on modifying sceregvl.inf, so I was thinking perhaps

you had an exploring junior admin around.

 

I realize you have indicated belief that the machines are clean,

but I have only heard of the kind of thing you report when it is

due to malware.

 

So I am out of ideas for you -( other than placing an audit on

the containing reg key to see if that traps any time/account info

of use.

 

Roger

 

"Oxo" <Oxo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:D9FCDB38-36A9-4DE2-AD49-E7A0CA97DFB4@microsoft.com...

> Thanks for replying Roger,

>

> Yes we have run a resultant policy settings view, and could find nothing

> that could affect the admin shares in this way. I'm not even sure that

> this

> option is available in Group policy anyway (happy to be corrected on this

> point if anyone knows different!)

>

> Cheers

>

> Ox

>

> "Roger Abell [MVP]" wrote:

>

>> Have you used GPMC to do a resultant policy view for an

>> affected system to make sure it is not carried by policy ?

>>

>> "Oxo" <Oxo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> news:DDFD4D37-5779-4A82-9E74-AE63D2CEA0C7@microsoft.com...

>> > Hi,

>> >

>> > I am experiencing a strange problem on a large number of XP machines on

>> > our

>> > domain.

>> >

>> > At least half of our PCs (both notebooks and desktops) are missing the

>> > administrative shares in Windows XP (C$ and Admin$) on a daily basis.

>> > It

>> > seems that the following key gets reset back to 0 (instead of 1) on a

>> > regular

>> > basis, with no intervention from us or the user. This key enables or

>> > disables

>> > the Admin shares:-

>> >

>> > Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

>> > Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters

>> > Name: AutoShareWks for workstations

>> > Type: REG_DWORD

>> > Value: 1 (on) 0 (off)

>> >

>> > As far as I'm aware, we have no virus infection that could cause this

>> > and

>> > have nothing in any logon scripts at start-up which could cause this. I

>> > cannot see anything in Group Policy which could do this, but will be

>> > happy

>> > to

>> > be proved wrong!

>> >

>> > Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated, we're tearing

>> > our

>> > hair out here!

>> >

>> > Regards

>> >

>> > Ox

>>

>>

>>

Guest Eddie Bowers [MSFT]
Posted

This is pretty typical of a lot of malware. You should scan at least of few

of these machies with various online scanners to see if anything picks

something up (safety.live.com housecall.trendmicro.com).

 

Eddie Bowers

Security Support

Microsoft Corporation

 

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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