Make sure that the default admin$ share is enable on ServerName

Question

When running the psexec command to remotely install or execute something on a sever on the same network the following error was displayed.

Couldn't access ServerName

The network name cannot be found

Make sure that the default admin$ share is enable on ServerName

Most references suggested that you add the following to the registry, but in my case this was already added to the server. This did not resolve the issue.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and create or modify a REG_DWORD value LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and set its value to 1

Answer 1

Solution:

You need to add the 'admin$' share which is your C:\Windows location.

1. Go to C:\windows and right-click --> Properties
2. Hit advance sharing
3. Click the check box Share this folder
4. Enter the name admin$ and hit Permissions
5. I would recommend removing 'Everyone' and adding just the users that the PsExec command will use to execute.

Run the PsExec command again and this should resolve your issue.

Edit:

You can also turn on your AutoShareServer in the registry, which will automatically create the admin shares.

1. Start regisry regedit
2. Search for key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\AutoShareServer
3. Change the AutoShareServer key to 1

Answer 2

In my case it was a network problem like mentioned in the error message.

I needed to allow SMB traffic on port 445 on the target machine. PSExec worked straight away after adding the firewall rule to allow that traffic.

Answer 3

You can also enable amins$ share by enabling File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In) Firewall Rule.

Go to Control Panel > System ans Security > Windows Defender Firewall > Advance Settings > Inbound Rules. Right click on File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In) from the list and select Enable Rule`. Normally, there are two File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In), one is for Domain profile and one is for Public & Private profile. I'm not sure which profile should be applied, Domain or Public or Private. For me, it's Domain profile.