You want the accounts folder shared, but you would rather the whole office did not see it while browsing the network. Two tools exist — the dollar-sign share name and Access-Based Enumeration — and they do very different jobs. Here is what each one really hides.
Out of sight feels safer, and sometimes it genuinely helps — a share nobody sees attracts no curiosity and no accidental clicks. But hidden is not the same as protected, and confusing the two is a classic office security mistake. This page covers the dollar-sign trick, the stronger server feature behind it, and the honest line between tidiness and security.
Accounts$\\OFFICE-PC\Accounts$ — a mapped drive works normallyWindows itself uses this trick: C$, ADMIN$ and IPC$ are built-in administrative shares that exist on every Windows PC, reachable only by administrators.
Be clear about the limits. The share still exists, tools can still enumerate it, and anyone who learns the path — from a shortcut, a recent-files list, or a screenshot — can attempt to open it exactly like a visible share. The only thing standing between them and the files is the permission list. Treat the dollar sign as a curtain, not a lock: fine for reducing clutter and casual wandering, worthless as your only protection for salaries or accounts data.
The professional version of hiding is Access-Based Enumeration (ABE): on a Windows Server file share, each user browsing a folder sees only the items they have permission to open. A folder they cannot access does not merely refuse them — it is not shown at all. It is enabled per share in Server Manager → File and Storage Services → Shares → Properties → Settings ("Enable access-based enumeration"), or with PowerShell: Set-SmbShare -Name "Data" -FolderEnumerationMode AccessBased.
The honest catch: ABE is a Windows Server feature. A Windows 10 or 11 PC sharing folders does not offer it — on a client PC, the dollar sign and good permissions are what you have.
Use both layers for what each is good at. Permissions do the real protecting: correct groups, no Everyone, least privilege. Hiding does the tidying: dollar-sign names for sensitive shares so they are not browsed past daily, and mapped drives or shortcuts for the people who legitimately use them. Anyone who "cannot find" a hidden share but should have it gets the path once, from you — that small friction is the entire point.
The video shows hidden shares and access control being set up on a real machine — including what other PCs actually see.
▶️ Watch Full VideoNot the ABE way — a Windows client cannot hide individual folders from users who lack permission; they will see the folder and get Access Denied when opening it. That behaviour is normal and still secure, just less tidy.
No. Malware running with a user's credentials follows mapped drives and recent-file paths, hidden or not. Hiding reduces casual human browsing only. Ransomware protection comes from tight permissions and real backups.
Because hiding was never access control. Administrators of the file PC can list all shares in fsmgmt.msc, including hidden and built-in ones — that is by design.