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Community Solutions Article - 555069

Top 10 Potential Problematic Security Settings for Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

Author: Kerry Steele MVP

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MICROSOFT CORPORATION AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, OR ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED HEREIN. ALL SUCH INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU SPECIFICALLY AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED HEREIN, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES.

Tips

Top 10 Potential Problematic Security Settings

Many enterprise management tools rely on several of these features of the operating system:
 
Enterprise and other applications may require:Administrative Shares (C$, ADMIN$) - AutoShareWks or AutoShareServerRemote Registry ServiceTask Scheduler RestrictAnonymous (Null User Sessions)NTFS/Registry PermissionsNetBIOS over TCP/IPLM VS. NTLM VS. NTLMv2 Authentication - LmCompatibilityLevelFile/Printer Sharing BindingsWorkstation ServiceServer Service
To troubleshoot most of these settings, it is either: - Turn it on - Turn it off - Tweak the value
 
For an application to function properly, it may require tuning several of the settings listed above.
 
The settings that are more difficult to troubleshoot are NTFS and Registry permissions. 
There are two ways to troubleshoot these issues: - Enable auditing of Failed Object Access, and watch for Failure events in the Event Viewer. - Use third party tools such as FileMon and RegMon from SysInternals - http://www.sysinternals.com.  Look for "Access Denied" alerts.

The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows .NET Server 2003, 64-Bit Datacenter Edition
  • Microsoft Windows .NET Server 2003, 64-Bit Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows .NET Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
  • Microsoft Windows .NET Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows .NET Server 2003, Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Windows .NET Server 2003, Web Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP1
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Last Revised:3/5/2004 (1.0)

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