Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I delete the C$ share from a computer?

— RB

Hey, RB. One quick clarification here: we can tell you how to temporarily delete the C$ share from a computer. However, the share will automatically be recreated any time the Server service is stopped and then restarted, or any time the computer is rebooted. Why? That’s just the way these so-called “administrative shares” work. They’re like dandelions or stray cats: once you have them, you can’t really get rid of them.

That said, here’s a script that will at least temporarily delete the C$ share:

strComputer = “.”

Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2”)
Set colShares = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    (“Select * from Win32_Share Where Name = ‘C$'”)
For Each objShare in colShares
    objShare.Delete
Next

This script starts off by connecting to the WMI service on the local computer. We then use this line of code to retrieve a collection of all the shares that have the Name C$:

Set colShares = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    (“Select * from Win32_Share Where Name = ‘C$'”)

Because share names must be unique on a computer our collection will have – at most – just one item in it. Because it is a collection, however, we still need to set up a For Each loop to cycle through all the members in the collection. Inside that loop we call the Delete method to stop sharing the folder.

Like we said, this effect is temporary: if the Server service is stopped and restarted or if the computer is rebooted then the C$ share will magically appear. Because of that you might want to put this code in a logon or computer startup script; that way the share will be removed even if the computer gets rebooted.

And, yes, you can delete the C$ share (or any other share) on a remote computer; all you have to do is assign the name of that computer to the variable strComputer. For example, here’s a revised script that deletes the C$ share on the remote computer atl-ws-01:

strComputer = “.”

Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2”)
Set colShares = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    (“Select * from Win32_Share Where Name = ‘C$'”)
For Each objShare in colShares
    objShare.Delete
Next

Hasta la vista, C$.