Author: Olushola Jonathan
Date: 20 Feb 2026
Platform: Hack The Box
Machine: Dancing
Difficulty: Easy
This write-up documents my approach to solving the Dancing machine on Hack The Box. The lab focuses on fundamental penetration testing skills including service discovery, enumeration, and exploitation in a controlled environment.
I followed a structured methodology starting with network reconnaissance, then SMB enumeration and analysis of exposed resources. The machine demonstrates how misconfigured network shares can lead to unauthorized data exposure.
This write-up is intended for educational purposes and for beginners learning to approach entry-level Windows targets.
Before starting reconnaissance, I established a secure connection to the Hack The Box lab environment using the provided VPN configuration file. This step is required to obtain network access to the target machine.
I started by checking the open ports to see what services were running and to identify possible entry points on the target.
After connecting to the Hack The Box VPN, I used the ping command to confirm that the target machine was reachable. The successful replies showed that the host was online and ready for further scanning.
