Windows 11 “Access Denied” When Connecting to C: Share as Administrator

When connecting to a Windows 11 PC over the network, you may be able to authenticate successfully but receive an “Access Denied” message when trying to access administrative shares such as C:.

This can be caused by Simple File Sharing being enabled on Windows 11. You can switch this off using the following steps.

  1. Launch Windows File Explorer.

  2. Click the 3 dots icon on the Tools menu and select "Options".

    windows 11 admin share access denied
  3. In the dialog that appears, select the "View" tab.

  4. Scroll to the end of list of options and turn off "Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended)".

    How to disable Sharing Wizard in Windows 10
  5. Click 'Apply', then 'OK' to close the dialog.

  6. Reboot your PC.

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