Removing access to "Network Connections"

D

Dennis Q. Wilson

I'm looking for a way to remove Network Connections from the Control
Panel and also to make sure Network Connections can't be accessed by
right-clicking on Network Places and selecting "Properties." How
exactly can I do this? Thanks.
 
W

Wesley Vogel

Network Connections is ncpa.cpl

Use TweakUI. Or if XP Pro, you can use Group Policy (gpedit.msc).

TweakUI
Control Panel
UNCheck: *.cpl | Apply | OK

Control Panel
[[This allows hide/unhide the icons that appear in “Control Panel”. Hiding
the extension does not uninstall it and it can be executed by running that
command at the command line.]]

Download TweakUI here >>>

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

[[The Control Panel category enables you to hide specific icons in Control
Panel. Create a REG_SZ value in the key HKCU\Control Panel\don't load, and
name it using the file name of the CPL file you want to hide. Set the value
to Yes to display the icon or No to hide the icon.]]

If XP Pro only, does not exist in XP Home.
Open Group Policy...
Start | Run | Type: gpedit.msc | Click OK |
Navigate to >>>

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\
Hide specified control panel applets

[[Hides specified Control Panel items and folders.
This setting removes Control Panel items (such as Display) and folders
(such as Fonts) from the Control Panel window and the Start menu. It can
remove Control Panel items you have added to your system, as well as Control
Panel items included in Windows 2000.

To hide a Control Panel item, type the file name of the item, such as
Ncpa.cpl (for Network). To hide a folder, type the folder name, such as
Fonts.

This setting affects the Start menu and Control Panel window only. It does
not prevent users from running Control Panel items.

Also, see the "Remove Display in Control Panel" setting in User
Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Display.

If both the "Hide specified Control Panel applets" setting and the "Show
only specified Control Panel applets" setting are enabled, and the same item
appears in both lists, the "Show only specified Control Panel applets"
setting is ignored.

Note: To find the file name of a Control Panel item, search for files with
the .cpl file name extension in the %Systemroot%\System32 directory. Note:
To create a list of disallowed Control Panel applets, click Show, click Add,
and then enter the Control Panel file name (ends with .cpl) or the name
displayed under that item in the Control Panel. (e.g., desk.cpl,
powercfg.cpl, Printers and Faxes)

Note: This setting does not affect the Categories that are displayed in the
new Control Panel Category view in Windows XP. If you want to control which
items are displayed in Control Panel, enable the "Force classic Control
Panel Style" setting to remove the Category view, and then use this setting
to control which .cpls are not displayed.]]

Items will be listed here...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\DisallowCpl

See, also...
User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\
Show only specified control panel applets

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\RestrictCpl

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 

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