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pbz
Asked: 2009-05-08 08:49:54 +0800 CST

Hide users when connecting to Windows Server 2008

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If I RDP to a Windows Server 2008 box without proving any username or password information I get to see a list of the users on the computer. In Windows Server 2003 this list was not broadcasted. How can I make WS2008 not advertise what users are on the system? Thanks.

UPDATE: More specifically, this is Windows Server 2008 Web Edition 64 bit.

windows-server-2008

3 Answers

  1. This was written for Vista, but it works fine on my Server 2008 development server:

    "This is possible via the Windows Local Security Policy Editor, or “secpol” tool. To launch the Local Security Policy Editor click start, Control Panel, System Maintenance, Administrative Tools, local Security Policy. Click “Continue” to the prompt presented by the User Account Control. If you are not presented with one, it's fine, just move on.

    In the Local Security Policy editor you will see two panes, one on the left with tree-view navigation and one on the right which will have the actual definitions and items to edit. On the left hand side, expand (either by clicking on the arrow or double clicking) the "Local Policies" section, and then click on "Security Options". On the right hand side, scroll down until you see "Interactive logon: Do not display last user name". Double click on this entry and you will be presented with a dialog box that has two options - "Enabled" and "Disabled", with Disabled being selected as default. Change this setting to "Enabled", and then click on the OK button.

    After double clicking “Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL” select the Disable option and hit OK. Next, close the Local Security Policy editor, as you are done. Log off. When you are prompted by a request to press CTRL-ALT-DEL do so, and you will get the classic style logon screen you have been labored so hard to achieve."

    There also seems to be another way. I have not tested that one.

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  2. I think this reghack still works in 2008.

    I'm curious as how to reproduce this, I cannot get the RDP client in Vista to connect to a Server 2008 at all without first providing the login credentials manually... the server's I've tried are all in a domain though. Perhaps the old RDP client does that though?

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  3. Best Answer

    I misunderstood how the logon process works. Please read the question comments for details.

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