Access Windows drive C: from another Windows PC
Connect to the shared root C:\ drive using the credentials of the source owner user who is a member of the Administrators group.
Circumvent Remote User Account Control (UAC) filtering, default in Windows for workgroups. This feature strips administrator privileges when you connect to a share from a different computer using a local account.
Two-Part Solution
Part 1: Disable Remote UAC Filtering (On Windows 10 Source PC)
This Registry change is required to allow a local administrator account (like yours) connecting from the network to retain its full administrative permissions, which are necessary to override the strict NTFS permissions on C:\.
On the Windows Source PC:
- Press Windows Key + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
- Navigate to:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
- In the right pane, look for the DWORD (32-bit) Value named LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy.
- If it exists, double-click it and set the Value data to 1.
- If it doesn’t exist, right-click in the empty space, select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy, and set its value to 1.
- Restart the Windows 11 PC for the change to take effect.
Part 2: Connect Using Specific Credentials (On Windows Target PC)
Now that the source PC will accept a remote administrator, you must force the Windows 10 PC to use those specific credentials.
You can connect to the Administrative Share, which is the hidden share for the root drive: C$.
On the Windows Target PC:
- Open File Explorer.
- In the address bar, type the administrative share path using the source PC’s name, e.g. \\DESKTOP-XYZ\C$
- When prompted for credentials, you must enter the username in one of the following formats:
- PC Name Format: MicrosoftAccount\UserEmailAddress
- Local Format: .\Username (The . represents the local machine, and is often the simplest way to specify a local account).
- Enter the password for the User account on the source Windows PC.
If the credentials are correct and you performed the Registry fix, you should gain immediate access to the entire C: drive contents.
If you don’t want to use the hidden C$ share, you could also access the explicit share you created, but using C$ is the most common method for administrative access.