File sharing printer sharing

[Dennis_Harris]

Is there a report that shows all PCs with file sharing turned on? Or printer sharing?
Or does this require a customized report?

[grimstar · Accepted solution]

If you want to know if File and Printer Sharing is turned on but not being utilized, you'd probably have to jump through some more hoops than just a custom report. Enabling those options via the GUI modify different firewall rules, and from what I can tell nothing in Lansweeper actually queries these rules. You also have to take in to consideration that there are different rules based upon the network profile you are interested in (Private, Public, Domain). The registry keys for these aren't the most user friendly, but they do exist and you may be able to query against them. Theoretically you could look at this location, write down all the keys, tell Lansweeper to query them, and then create a custom report that looks at the value.

The keys exist here: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules

The key names all start with FPS-

In my testing when I switched the settings back and forth the data within the keys toggled between stuff like what you see below.

Domain File and Printer Sharing On:

FPS-ICMP4-ERQ-In-NoScope

v2.29|Action=Allow|Active=TRUE|Dir=In|Protocol=1|Profile=Domain|ICMP4=8:*|App=System|Name=@FirewallAPI.dll,-28543|Desc=@FirewallAPI.dll,-28547|EmbedCtxt=@FirewallAPI.dll,-28502|

Domain File and Printer Sharing Off:

FPS-ICMP4-ERQ-In-NoScope

v2.29|Action=Allow|Active=FALSE|Dir=In|Protocol=1|Profile=Domain|ICMP4=8:*|App=System|Name=@FirewallAPI.dll,-28543|Desc=@FirewallAPI.dll,-28547|EmbedCtxt=@FirewallAPI.dll,-28502|

Your life is a lot easier if you only care whether or not someone is sharing a printer, as there is definitely a "Printer: Shared Printers" report.