Administrative Shares (C$) Not Working in Windows 7 Workgroup Computer

While I’m preparing a different post related to this topic, I noticed administrative shares not working in my Windows 7 work-group computer. If the computer becomes part of domain, it started working for domain administrator, but in work group, no luck. After several tries and searches, this way helped me fix the issue.

By default all local drives (Partitions) shared for administrators to access over the network even when they are really not shared. These type of shares called admin or administrative shares in Windows 7. Normally it can be accessed by typing Computer IP address or name with partition letter and dollar ($) sign at the end, as shown below.

The above command will return the user name and password pop up screen if you don’t have administrative rights already on target computer. You must provide the correct user name and password to access the admin share.

In my case, I know the correct administrative user name and password, but it didn’t accept. Other network shares work fine in Windows 7 with same user name and password. So, It must be something wrong with admin share.

If you face the similar problem in accessing administrative shares in Windows 7 specially in workgroup computer, try this registry trick. It worked straight away, some people mentioned to change Local security policy, firewall settings and some more, but none of them worked except below method.

How to Fix.

1) Open registry.

2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-Software-Microsoft-Windows-CurrentVersion-Policies-System

3) Add a new value DWORD ( 32 Bit or 64 Bit, depends on OS version), name it 

LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and give value 1. Restart the machine and check the share now. It must work.

Example of registry

How to Remove Fingerprint Logon in Windows 7

One of my user asked how to remove fingerprint logon in Windows 7 which came with HP Laptop. Finally I found a way to remove it. The purpose why he wanted to remove fingerprint logon from windows 7 is, after laptop resumed from sleep or hibernation mode he can’t type password properly. It’s just flashing and after two, three characters it is going back to first letter of password. So, he has to type the password very quickly to resume computer.

I suspect, this is because of fingerprint logon option on login screen. My guess was correct, after I removed fingerprint logon from windows 7 logon screen, next time typing password and resuming windows became easy. Let’s see how to remove fingerprint logon option.

To be honest, this is the first time I’m trying to remove fingerprint logon option, because I encourage people to use this option since it’s more secure. I tried following steps.

1) Remove biometric logon from control panel

I found this method in superuser forum to turn off fingerprint logon in windows 7 by switching off biometrics in control panel.

This option should appear in control panel -> Hardware & Sound -> Biometric Devices. As shown below.

 

2) As second method, I disabled finger print reader in device manager. It’s displayed under Biometric devices in device manager. This method seemed good for me. But, after restart the windows 7 HP laptop, I could see still the fingerprint logon option is there. This time under fingerprint sign, it displayed device is not ready for fingerprint capture. Because of I disabled the biometric device from device manager.But the finger print logon option was there at start up. This method too failed.

 3) I went to System configuration utility (Run – msconfig), and removed all programs and services from startup related to biometric and finger print logon. This method too didn’t help me after restart.

 4) Finally, I found out the program which is in charge for finger print capture and authentication. It’s some HP security stuff. After uninstalled the program I can’t see finger print logon option in windows 7 login screen. So, if you are facing same kind of problem, try to uninstall the software related to fingerprint capture and management. Mostly, your laptop supplier would have made software for it.

 I’m sure this post helps you to remove fingerprint logon in windows 7.

How to Use Puppy Linux to Recover Windows 7 Files When You Can’t Boot

It’s always better to backup your data before do any re-installation or repair when Windows 7 crashed or can not be booted. How to do it when you can’t log in and see the explorer?. This small post shows how to use Puppy Linux boot able CD  to recover Windows 7 files.

I like Puppy Linux for this purpose, because;

1) Very Small file (130 MB only) compare to other Operating Systems.
2) Installation is not required, boot from CD or DVD and do your job.
3) Very quick booting.
4) Detects FAT32, NTFS partitions and external USB devices. So, transfer your data in easy way to removable disks.

How to Use Puppy Linux to Recover Windows 7 Files and Folders

1) Download the latest version from official site here.

2) Create a CD from ISO file. DO NOT just copy the ISO file.

3) Set CD drive as first boot device in crashed Windows 7 computer and boot from CD drive.

4) Select initial language, keyboard and location options. We are running from live CD, so nothing will be saved on hard disk.

5) You will land on a beautiful desktop within seconds.

It detects my Windows partitions and USB drive, So I can transfer important files and folders.

6) Accessing files and folders is not an issue. Below is root partition of Windows 7.

7) If you think copying is difficult then use drag and drop. It’s easy and worked well.

So, that’s it. Without breaking your head or asking any IT guy’s ( like me) help, you can backup your documents in minutes with Puppy Linux live CD. I still remember people remove the physical hard drive and connect to other working computers to copy their files before doing format or repair. This method should be cool for all.

How to Use Telnet in Windows 7

For security reasons, Windows 7  came without telnet as Windows vista. This article shows how to use telnet in windows 7.  Windows 7 computer can be used as telnet client and telnet server. In this example we will see how to use telnet client in windows 7 to connect telnet enabled devices.

Telnet in Windows 7

You can easily identify whether telnet is installed on your computer by typing ‘telnet’ in command prompt. If it’s not installed the following message will be appeared.

Telnet in Windows 7 can be easily done by installing telnet client which is not installed by default. To install,

1) Go to Control panel

2) Click on ‘ Programs and Features’

3) At left side, click on ‘ Turn Windows features on or off’

Go down in Windows Features box, and tick ‘Telnet Client’ as shown above. Then press OK, and let installation complete.

That’s it, telnet client installation is done in windows 7.  When telnet client is installed, windows firewall settings also changed automatically to allow telnet packets.

Now if you type the same ‘telnet’ command, you can get telnet console in windows 7.