Disabling the network wizard in XP pro?

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Guest

Hello everyone,

I work for a company that ships small pre-configured computer networks.
We've run into a problem lately where the end user runs the network setup
wizard, blowing away the workgroup name and network shares, enabling the
firewall, and generally giving our support department a migraine. Is there
any way to disable the network setup wizard without a domain or user access
level restrictions? All our end users unfortunately must be logged in as
administrators for our software to work properly, but if there's a registry
key we could add/change/remove during the production stage, that would be
fantastic.

Thank you for your time. :)
~Dan
 
Dan,

See "Method 2" here.

HOW TO: Restrict Users from Running Specific Windows Programs in Windows
2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=323525

FYI, any user with Admin privileges can remove the restrictions from the
registry quite easily.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hello everyone,

I work for a company that ships small pre-configured computer networks.
We've run into a problem lately where the end user runs the network setup
wizard, blowing away the workgroup name and network shares, enabling the
firewall, and generally giving our support department a migraine. Is there
any way to disable the network setup wizard without a domain or user access
level restrictions? All our end users unfortunately must be logged in as
administrators for our software to work properly, but if there's a registry
key we could add/change/remove during the production stage, that would be
fantastic.

Thank you for your time. :)
~Dan
 
Obviously, you need to enter the executable name (netsetup.exe), instead of
iexplore.exe in step 5 (d)

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Dan,

See "Method 2" here.

HOW TO: Restrict Users from Running Specific Windows Programs in Windows
2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=323525

FYI, any user with Admin privileges can remove the restrictions from the
registry quite easily.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hello everyone,

I work for a company that ships small pre-configured computer networks.
We've run into a problem lately where the end user runs the network setup
wizard, blowing away the workgroup name and network shares, enabling the
firewall, and generally giving our support department a migraine. Is there
any way to disable the network setup wizard without a domain or user access
level restrictions? All our end users unfortunately must be logged in as
administrators for our software to work properly, but if there's a registry
key we could add/change/remove during the production stage, that would be
fantastic.

Thank you for your time. :)
~Dan
 
I appreciate your response, Ramesh. Unfortunately, that didn't quite work
out. The KB you pointed me to blocks access to netsetup.exe quite well, but
it seems that all that netsetup does is call the wizard itself. Even with
netsetup blocked, the wizard can still be run from the link in the network
connections folder. It doesn't seem to be an executable of any kind, in
fact. I created a shortcut to it to try and find what file it was pointing
to, and the properties tab of the shortcut points right back to the network
connections folder. If I run the wizard and jump to the process in the task
manager, it shows it running as rundll32.exe, which I can't disable for
obvious reasons. I'm starting to think that it may be embedded to deep to
disable, but if anyone can prove me wrong, I'd love you for it. :)

Thanks,
~Dan
 
You're correct, Dan. Another option would be to delete the "hnetwiz.dll"
from System32 and DLLCache folder, after moving it to a safe location (in
case you need it back).

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I appreciate your response, Ramesh. Unfortunately, that didn't quite work
out. The KB you pointed me to blocks access to netsetup.exe quite well, but
it seems that all that netsetup does is call the wizard itself. Even with
netsetup blocked, the wizard can still be run from the link in the network
connections folder. It doesn't seem to be an executable of any kind, in
fact. I created a shortcut to it to try and find what file it was pointing
to, and the properties tab of the shortcut points right back to the network
connections folder. If I run the wizard and jump to the process in the task
manager, it shows it running as rundll32.exe, which I can't disable for
obvious reasons. I'm starting to think that it may be embedded to deep to
disable, but if anyone can prove me wrong, I'd love you for it. :)

Thanks,
~Dan
 
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