I'm managing a large Windows file share, and I'm finding all the usual tools like MMC, WinRM, and PowerShell to be pretty lacking. They only provide basic info about who has what open and allow you to close connections, but I'm looking for something more detailed. Has anyone created a GUI tool similar to Process Explorer that can manage SMB shares on a Windows server? Ideally, I'd love a tool that shows all active sessions, open files, and their corresponding clients, complete with detailed process/PID info for remote sessions (when using Active Directory) and performance stats that highlight which files or shares are consuming the most I/O. I feel like there must be something out there that fits this description, but I haven't come across it yet. Any suggestions?
5 Answers
If you’re looking to close open connections, you might just declare a maintenance window and use compmgmt.msc on the server. It’s a straightforward way to manage shares and connections, but I know it’s not what you’re asking for.
You're right that SMB only shows you necessary session details. But you might consider using some analytics to identify chatty clients or data-heavy transfers. It's a smarter approach and could help you pinpoint what shares need the most attention, especially if you're trying to clean up unnecessary ones or know who’s accessing what.
You might want to check out Get-SmbOpenFile in PowerShell. It gives you most of the info you’re looking for, but I get it, it’s not the most user-friendly tool. I mean, who wants to go through each PC to look up handles for open files? It can take forever! But hey, if you could at least have an option for a faster GUI that showed all that detail, that would be awesome!
It’s worth noting that SMB doesn't track which specific process is opening a file—only what's open on what machine and the credentials used. You’d need an agent installed on all endpoints to gather that info, which seems a bit much for file management. Something like Nexthink would do it, but that's probably overkill for just managing shares.
I’d really like a tool that can tell me which specific share someone is using. That way, I could efficiently remove shares that aren’t needed or transition them to hidden shares when necessary, like moving from a regular share to a hidden one without the hassle of guessing.
True, a faster GUI option would make life so much easier. I get tired of waiting around for the current tools to catch up!