Article ID: 839918
Article Last Modified on 10/26/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
INTRODUCTION
This article describes a hotfix that lets you control whether Windows XP or Windows 2000 users in your organization can save passwords in a Remote Desktop Connection session to a terminal server.
Connection settings for Remote Desktop Connection sessions are saved to the hard disk as Remote Desktop (.rdp) files. An .rdp file contains all the information for a connection to a terminal server. For example, if a user clicks to select the Save my password check box on the General tab in the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, the user's password is saved to an .rdp file.
A new policy setting is available in Windows XP and in Windows 2000 that you can use to control whether users can save passwords in a Remote Desktop Connection session. After you apply the hotfix that is described in this article, you can configure the "Do not allow passwords to be saved" policy setting to either allow or not allow users to save passwords in a Remote Desktop Connection session. You can use Group Policy to apply the policy setting to Windows XP and Windows 2000-based computers in your domain environment. Or, you can apply the policy setting locally.
To configure this policy setting, follow these steps:
- Open the appropriate policy object, and then use one of the following methods:
- To apply the policy to the computer, expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then expand Terminal Services.
- To apply the policy to users, expand User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then expand Terminal Services.
- Click Client.
- In the right pane, double-click Do not allow passwords to be saved, and then use one of the following methods:
- To enable the policy setting so that users cannot save passwords, click Enabled.
- To enable the policy setting so that users cannot save passwords, click Enabled.
Note After you enable the "Do not allow passwords to be saved" policy setting, the Save my password check box on the General tab in the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box is not available (appears dimmed).
- To disable the policy setting so that users can save passwords, click Disabled.
- Click OK.
The policy setting is stored in the DisablePasswordSaving registry entry in the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services
When you enable the "Do not allow passwords to be saved" setting so that users cannot save passwords, the DisablePasswordSaving registry entry is set to 1. When you disable this setting so that users can save passwords, the DisablePasswordSaving registry entry is set to 0 (zero).
Note
- Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 (SP4) cannot save passwords in a Remote Desktop Connection session to a terminal server. Apply this hotfix or apply Update rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 to enable the feature.
- Remote Desktop Connection 5.1 for Windows XP with Service Pack 1 (SP1) cannot save passwords. Apply this hotfix to enable the feature.
- Remote Desktop Connection 5.2 for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) can save passwords.
- Remote Desktop Connection 5.2 for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and for Windows Server 2003 SP1 can save passwords.
- Only Windows Server 2003 with SP1 supports authentication in this scenario and has a Security tab where you can set options.
MORE INFORMATION
Windows XP
Service pack information
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322389 How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack
Hotfix information
A supported feature that modifies the product's default behavior is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to modify the behavior that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that specifically require it. This feature may receive additional testing. Therefore, if your system is not severely affected by the lack of this feature, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this feature.
To obtain this feature immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Prerequisites
This hotfix requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Hotfix replacement information
This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.
File information
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
Date Time Version Size File name ----------------------------------------------------------- 30-Mar-2004 16:47 1,521,538 System.adm 01-Apr-2004 19:55 5.1.2600.1502 389,120 Mstsc.exe 10-Jan-2004 02:23 5.1.2600.1331 134,144 Regedit.exe
Windows 2000
Hotfix information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.
To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.
Prerequisites
This hotfix requires Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4).
Hotfix replacement information
This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.
File information
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
Date Time Size File name --------------------------------------- 05-Apr-2004 08:37 759,404 System.adm
For additional information about how hotfix packages are named, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
816915 New file naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages
For additional information about standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates
Additional query words: rdp terminal services password
Keywords: kbqfe kbhotfixserver kbwinxpsp2fix kbwinxppresp2fix kbbug kbfix kbwin2000presp5fix KB839918
