Appendix F: Add Network Place Wizard and Web Publishing Wizard

(Note: This topic describes not just Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2, but also Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3.)

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Overview: Add Network Place Wizard and Web Publishing Wizard
Controlling the Use of the Add Network Place Wizard and the Web Publishing Wizard

Overview: Add Network Place Wizard and Web Publishing Wizard

In Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (SP2), users can use the Add Network Place Wizard to create shortcuts to shared folders and resources on the network or on Web or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers. Users can use the Web Publishing Wizard to publish files over the Internet or a local network so that those files can be viewed in a Web browser. If users do not have folders on a Web server already or do not have an account with a Web service provider, the Add Network Place Wizard or the Web Publishing Wizard can help them set these up.

The Add Network Place Wizard and the Web Publishing Wizard are enabled by default for all users. Users use these wizards as follows:

  • Add Network Place Wizard: Users access this wizard through My Network Places\Add a network place or in Windows Explorer through Tools\Map Network Drive (through the link labeled "Sign up for online storage or connect to a network server").

    Users can use the wizard to sign up for a service that offers online storage space, or to create a shortcut to a Web site, an FTP site, or other local network connection. To add a shortcut in My Network Places to a folder on a Web server, the Web server must support network places. Supporting network places requires the Web Extender Client (WEC) protocol and Microsoft FrontPage® Server Extensions, or the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol and Internet Information Services (IIS). The user must also have read and write access to the Web server.

  • Web Publishing Wizard: In Windows Explorer, when common tasks are shown, users can access this wizard through several different tasks. These tasks are Publish this file to the Web, Publish this folder to the Web, and Publish the selected items to the Web.

    Users can use the Web Publishing Wizard to publish files over the Internet or a local network so that those files can be viewed in a Web browser.

You can remove access to the Add Network Place Wizard and the Web Publishing Wizard using Group Policy.

For more information about the WEC and WebDAV protocols, see “About Web Folder Behaviors” on the MSDN Web site at:

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=29223

Controlling the Use of the Add Network Place Wizard and the Web Publishing Wizard

To control the Add Network Place Wizard and the Web Publishing Wizard, use Group Policy.

Controlling Whether the Wizards Download Information from a Microsoft Web site

To control whether the Add Network Place Wizard and the Web Publishing Wizard display a list of service providers downloaded from a Windows Web site, use the Group Policy setting Turn off Internet download for Web publishing and online ordering wizards. This setting is described in Appendix G, “Online Ordering Wizards and Tasks.”

Controlling the Use of the Add Network Place Wizard

To block users from accessing the Add Network Place Wizard from the Map Network Drive command, configure the following Group Policy setting in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer: Remove "Map Network Drive" and "Disconnect Network Drive". This policy setting does the following:

  • If you enable this policy setting, the system removes the Map Network Drive and Disconnect Network Drive commands from the toolbar and Tools menus in Windows Explorer and My Network Places. The system also removes these commands from menus that appear when you right-click the Windows Explorer or My Network Places icons.

  • This policy setting does not prevent users from connecting to another computer by typing the name of a shared folder in the Run dialog box.

  • This policy setting does not remove the Add Network Place task from My Network Places.

Controlling the Use of the Web Publishing Wizard

To control access to the Web Publishing Wizard and related tasks, configure a Group Policy setting. The File and Folder Tasks affected by this setting are Publish this file to the Web, Publish this folder to the Web, and Publish the selected items to the Web. The setting is located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Internet Communication Management\Internet Communication settings, and is called Turn off the "Publish to Web" task for files and folders.

If you want the policy setting to apply to all users of a computer and come into effect when the computer starts or when Group Policy is refreshed, use the setting listed in the preceding paragraph. If you want the policy setting to apply to users and come into effect when users log on or when Group Policy is refreshed, use the same setting in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Internet Communication Management\Internet Communication settings.