So if I shared a folder called MyFiles as MyFiles$ on a computer named Comp1, I would access that folder by going to My Computer and typing in the address bar:Īs long as everything was setup correctly, the contents of the folder should pop up without a problem! Note that if you browse the network via Explorer and click on that computer, you won’t see that shared folder in the list because it’s hidden. If that didn’t make any sense, the UNC path is simply the computer name and folder name that you want to access. In order to access the hidden share in Windows, you need to go to Windows Explorer (My Computer) and type the full UNC path to the folder. Full Control allows someone to change the permissions on the folder itself. For some reason, you can’t change the share name once you’ve shared the folder, so in order to change it, you have to first remove the share and then re-share the folder.Īlso, if you want people to be able to add and delete files in the folder, you’ll need to click on the Permissions button and click either Change or Full Control.Ĭhange is usually good enough because it allows people to add files and delete files. You should note that you can only create this hidden share when you first share the folder in Windows 7 and Windows 8. Just add the $ right after the share name without any spaces. In Windows 7 and Windows 8, click on the Advanced Sharing button to get all the sharing options. By default, when you click Share this folder, the share name is filled in with the name of the folder. Of course, to share a folder on a home network or even in your office, follow the same procedure as described above. Remember, this means that any Administrator can access all of your files at any time! So you really have no privacy in a Windows domain. As you can see here, my entire C hard drive is shared out since I’m on a corporate domain. The $ symbol after the share name is what makes the folder hidden on the network. Click on the Sharing tab and you’ll see that “ Share this folder” is selected and the share name is C$. You can see if your local drives are shared out by going to My Computer, right-clicking on the local C drive (or whatever letter you have), and choosing Properties. The admin shares are also all hidden shares, so that anyone browsing the network will not see them.

How to create a folder in windows 8