Windows 7 - Network Discovery
Hi,I've turned off Network Discovery on all 3 profiles (Domain/Public/Work) but when I open the "Network" folder, computers are still being detected.I'm trying to prepare an OSD for a large domain and would prefer to avoid the overhead of all the computers enumerating one another over the network. This functionality used to be available from GP for XP but can't see options for this which apply (and work) on Win7.Is there any way to completely disabled this?x64 if it makes any difference.Thanks,Benhttp://www.2way.net.au
December 31st, 2009 8:20am

Hi, Have you used any Group Policy which is related to Network Discovery? Please understand when the status of Network Discovery is off, this state prevents your computer from seeing other network computers and devices and prevents people on other network computers from seeing your computer. However, if you still can see other network computers, I suggest you refer to the following articles to disable Network Discovery in Group Policy. Win2008 GPOE prevents vista networking mapping network discovery Please Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. Thanks, Novak
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January 4th, 2010 12:42pm

Hi Novak,Thanks for your response, perhaps I'll provide some additional information so I can clarify.When you open Explorer, naviagate to the Network folder on the left, when you open this folder the system automatically starts to enumerate the computers on the network and they appear in the right side of explorer.If there is in excess of 10,000 computers on the network.... my thoughts are this will this perform like a dog after about the first 2,000. I imagine all that information is collected and stored somewhere on Win7 locally and then each time the user re-opens this folder it will start to refresh it. On a large network, I just don't see this being a great feature and in some scenarios I can even see it being labelled as a security risk.I have tried the Group Policy options and I have tried un-binding the Link-Layer protocols off the NIC but to no avail. The other systems within the network are still being discovered and displayed.At this stage we don't care or want the computers to 'see' each other as it's not really neccessary, so long as the Win7 clients can access folder shares on file servers, SharePoint websites and external websites with the usual protocols such as SMB, DNS, DHCP etc as generally comptuers don't need to talk to one another on corporate domains... In-fact, in most of the secured environments I've worked in, the security model explicitly denies users access to other machines accross the network unless they're an admin.So, at this stage I'm still looking for a way to turn this off like you used to be able to do with Windows 2000 and XP.Regards,Benhttp://www.2way.net.au
January 10th, 2010 4:10pm

I am looking for the same solution... Through a GPO I want to prevent the "browsing" of computers by ensuring the network pane does not discover all the devices out there... I also want to prevent the pop-up prompt that says "Network Discovery is off, click here to turn it on". I have asked Microsoft for assistance but so far they do not have an answer. When I tried setting "Block" settings for both inbound and outbound rules I DID get rid of the pop-up prompt... But I lost the ability to access any network resources. I need the magic middle ground. Anyone?
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May 7th, 2010 4:30pm

Did you find a solution (GP to turn off network discovery)? I am trying to do this on my windows 7 machines but without success. Could you please help? Thanks
September 7th, 2010 7:33pm

I cannot believe this is still an issue. I have waited months for this to be solved. I will stick with XP until this is solved. It’s the same with the desktop wallpaper there is a KB you have to install to make it work!! What’s all that about? This should have been pushed to every computer MS, not me having to install it! Joke... It’s like they have not tested this in a corporate network. BASIC problems still a year later.
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September 13th, 2010 12:29pm

I have found a solution (ish) Below link does the job but it means editing the registry. It has worked fine for me so I am going to make Win 7 Images with my changes and them deploy it. http://www.askvg.com/how-to-remove-network-from-windows-7-explorers-navigation-pane/ To to regedit below HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}\ShellFolder 3. Now you'll need to change value of "Attributes" DWORD value present in the right-side section. But Windows will not allow you to change its value as you won't have proper permissions. To get permissions, first right-click on "ShellFolder" key and select "Permissions". It'll open a new window. Select "Administrators" in user list and check "Allow" box given for "Full Control" permission. Click on OK button to apply the changes. 4. Now double-click on "Attributes" DWORD value given in right-side section and change its value to b0940064 5. That's it. Log off or restart your system and "Network" will no longer present in Explorer window. NOTE: If you want to restore "Network" in Navigation pane, simply change value of "Attributes" DWORD to b0040064 using step 4. Big thanks to "askVG"
September 15th, 2010 12:14pm

I came across this thread in an attempt to prevent excessive network discovery which was causing the ports on our switches to disable due to port security. The registry key fix did not solve our problem. However, we have found by disabling the following two services in GPO: Function Discovery Provider Host Function Discovery Resource Publication we have succesfully prevented Windows 7 from attempting to discover other computers either via Start>Run> \\ or by going into Computer and browsing the network. At this point, this does not appear to affect network drive mappings at logon or printing to a shared printer, but we are still testing. In addtion, it still allows for UNC path functionality from the Run command. I was unable to find any information regarding this on the Internet so I'm posting here in case it helps someone else out.
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March 7th, 2011 3:45pm

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