Error Code 5 (Access is Denied) returned when deploying an agent to a Workgroup computer using a Local Administrator Account

When AssetStudio is performing an agent deployment or remote inventory of a Windows computer the Endpoint Server needs to be able to map a drive to the ADMIN$ default share. You may get an error code 5 "Access Denied", failed to connect to ADMIN$ share on a Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Vista or Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 or 2012 R2 computer, even when supplying the appropriate local user credentials that have Administrator access.

If the target computer is not a member of a Windows Domain, i.e. Workgroup Computer, then this is most likely because the target system has Remote UAC enabled. Remote UAC prevents local administrative accounts from accessing ADMIN$. More appropriately Remote UAC prevents local accounts from running in an elevated mode when connecting from the network. The default local Administrator account i.e. Administrator or a Domain Account should work fine. If you need to be able to access the ADMIN$ using a local account then you will need to disable Remote UAC.

You can accomplish this by editing the registry. In the registry, navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Create a DWORD value called LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and assign it a value of 1.

A reboot will be necessary (actually you can just restart the Server service but a reboot is ideal).