NetShareEnum function (lmshare.h)

Article
10/13/2021

Retrieves information about each shared resource on a server.

You can also use the WNetEnumResource function to retrieve resource information. However, WNetEnumResource does not enumerate hidden shares or users connected to a share.

Syntax

NET_API_STATUS NET_API_FUNCTION NetShareEnum(
  [in]      LMSTR   servername,
  [in]      DWORD   level,
  [out]     LPBYTE  *bufptr,
  [in]      DWORD   prefmaxlen,
  [out]     LPDWORD entriesread,
  [out]     LPDWORD totalentries,
  [in, out] LPDWORD resume_handle
);

Parameters

[in] servername

Pointer to a string that specifies the DNS or NetBIOS name of the remote server on which the function is to execute. If this parameter is NULL, the local computer is used.

[in] level

Specifies the information level of the data. This parameter can be one of the following values.

Value	Meaning
0	Return share names. The bufptr parameter points to an array of SHARE_INFO_0 structures.
1	Return information about shared resources, including the name and type of the resource, and a comment associated with the resource. The bufptr parameter points to an array of SHARE_INFO_1 structures.
2	Return information about shared resources, including name of the resource, type and permissions, password, and number of connections. The bufptr parameter points to an array of SHARE_INFO_2 structures.
502	Return information about shared resources, including name of the resource, type and permissions, number of connections, and other pertinent information. The bufptr parameter points to an array of SHARE_INFO_502 structures. Shares from different scopes are not returned. For more information about scoping, see the Remarks section of the documentation for the NetServerTransportAddEx function.
503	Return information about shared resources, including the name of the resource, type and permissions, number of connections, and other pertinent information. The bufptr parameter points to an array of SHARE_INFO_503 structures. Shares from all scopes are returned. If the shi503_servername member of this structure is "", there is no configured server name and the NetShareEnum* function enumerates shares for all the unscoped names. Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: This information level is not supported.

[out] bufptr

Pointer to the buffer that receives the data. The format of this data depends on the value of the level parameter.

This buffer is allocated by the system and must be freed using the NetApiBufferFree function. Note that you must free the buffer even if the function fails with ERROR_MORE_DATA.

[in] prefmaxlen

Specifies the preferred maximum length of returned data, in bytes. If you specify MAX_PREFERRED_LENGTH, the function allocates the amount of memory required for the data. If you specify another value in this parameter, it can restrict the number of bytes that the function returns. If the buffer size is insufficient to hold all entries, the function returns ERROR_MORE_DATA. For more information, see Network Management Function Buffers and Network Management Function Buffer Lengths.

[out] entriesread

Pointer to a value that receives the count of elements actually enumerated.

[out] totalentries

Pointer to a value that receives the total number of entries that could have been enumerated. Note that applications should consider this value only as a hint.

[in, out] resume_handle

Pointer to a value that contains a resume handle which is used to continue an existing share search. The handle should be zero on the first call and left unchanged for subsequent calls. If resume_handle is NULL, then no resume handle is stored.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is NERR_Success.

If the function fails, the return value is a system error code. For a list of error codes, see System Error Codes.

Remarks

This function applies only to Server Message Block (SMB) shares. For other types of shares, such as Distributed File System (DFS) or WebDAV shares, use Windows Networking (WNet) functions, which support all types of shares.

For interactive users (users who are logged on locally to the machine), no special group membership is required to execute the NetShareEnum function. For non-interactive users, Administrator, Power User, Print Operator, or Server Operator group membership is required to successfully execute the NetShareEnum function at levels 2, 502, and 503. No special group membership is required for level 0 or level 1 calls.

Windows Server 2022: For non-interactive users, Administrator, Access Control Assistance Operators, or Server Operator group membership is required to successfully execute the NetShareEnum function at levels 2, 502, and 503.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: For all users, Administrator, Power User, Print Operator, or Server Operator group membership is required to successfully execute the NetShareEnum function at levels 2 and 502.

To retrieve a value that indicates whether a share is the root volume in a DFS tree structure, you must call the NetShareGetInfo function and specify information level 1005.

If you are programming for Active Directory, you may be able to call certain Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI) methods to achieve the same functionality you can achieve by calling the network management share functions. For more information, see IADsFileShare.

Examples

The following code sample demonstrates how to retrieve information about each shared resource on a server using a call to the NetShareEnum function. The sample calls NetShareEnum, specifying information level 502 (SHARE_INFO_502). If the call succeeds, the code loops through the entries and prints information about each share. The sample also calls the IsValidSecurityDescriptor function to validate the shi502_security_descriptor member. Finally, the code sample frees the memory allocated for the information buffer.

#ifndef UNICODE
#define UNICODE
#endif
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <lm.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "Netapi32.lib")
#pragma comment(lib, "Advapi32.lib")

void wmain( int argc, TCHAR *lpszArgv[ ])
{
   PSHARE_INFO_502 BufPtr,p;
   NET_API_STATUS res;
   LPTSTR   lpszServer = NULL;
   DWORD er=0,tr=0,resume=0, i;

   switch(argc)
   {
   case 2:
      lpszServer = lpszArgv[1];
      break;
   default:
      printf("Usage: NetShareEnum <servername>\n");
      return;
   }
   //
   // Print a report header.
   //
   printf("Share:              Local Path:                   Uses:   Descriptor:\n");
   printf("---------------------------------------------------------------------\n");
   //
   // Call the NetShareEnum function; specify level 502.
   //
   do // begin do
   {
      res = NetShareEnum (lpszServer, 502, (LPBYTE *) &BufPtr, MAX_PREFERRED_LENGTH, &er, &tr, &resume);
      //
      // If the call succeeds,
      //
      if(res == ERROR_SUCCESS || res == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
      {
         p=BufPtr;
         //
         // Loop through the entries;
         //  print retrieved data.
         //
         for(i=1;i<=er;i++)
         {
            printf("%-20S%-30S%-8u",p->shi502_netname, p->shi502_path, p->shi502_current_uses);
            //
            // Validate the value of the 
            //  shi502_security_descriptor member.
            //
            if (IsValidSecurityDescriptor(p->shi502_security_descriptor))
               printf("Yes\n");
            else
               printf("No\n");
            p++;
         }
         //
         // Free the allocated buffer.
         //
         NetApiBufferFree(BufPtr);
      }
      else 
         printf("Error: %ld\n",res);
   }
   // Continue to call NetShareEnum while 
   //  there are more entries. 
   // 
   while (res==ERROR_MORE_DATA); // end do
   return;
}

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows XP [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	lmshare.h (include Lm.h)
Library	Netapi32.lib
DLL	Netapi32.dll