How to view all network shares in Windows.

Issue:

How to view all network shares in Windows.

Reasoning:

Users may wish to view the shares available on their computer for any of the below reasons.

  1. Verify that a directory or drive is shared.
  2. Make sure folders or drives that a user does not wish to share is not shared.

Answers:

Below are several different methods of how a Microsoft Windows users may view their shares.

Access your own computer on the network

To view visible shares in Windows simply open the network path to your computer. For example, if your computer was named mypc, you could view your computer by clicking Start / Run and typing \\mypc. Running this command opens a window and will display all available network shares. It is important to realize that this will not show hidden shares. Running the net share command explained below will.

View your computer through "Network neighborhood" or "My Network Places"

Opening your computer through "Network neighborhood" or "My Network Places" will enable you to view your computer's shares and any other computer's shares in your network.

The "Network neighborhood" or "My Network Places" is accessible through your desktop and you must open the workgroup that your computer belongs to before being able to view your computer's shares. This also will not display any hidden shares.

Use the MS-DOS "net share" command

Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP users can use the "net share" command to view all of the shares (including the hidden shares) on your computer. To use this command, follow the below steps.

  1. Click Start / Run and type "cmd" and press enter.
  2. At the MS-DOS prompt, type "net share" and press enter. This will display each of the shares, the location of the resource, and any remarks for that share. Below is a basic example of what this may look like.
Share name Resource Remark -------------------------------------------------------------- print$ C:\WINNT\System32\spool\drivers Printer Drivers C$ C:\ Default share ADMIN$ C:\WINNT Remote Admin IPC$ Remote IPC information C:\Administrator\Desktop\information