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Can someone tell me how I can prohibit certain users from seeing the whole network in Windows Explorer? We are in an AD based domain with 2003 schema. I need to restrict users from seeing all computers on the network, with a few exceptions - a few users would need to be able to see and access certain shares on certain machines. Is this possible?

I have tried the obvious like disabling No Computers Near Me in Network Locations and No Entire Network in Network Locations through GPMC but it makes no difference. All machines receiving the GPO are Windows 7 clients. Could this be the reason for the problem?

Thank you

3 Answers 3

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Have you tried the threads below?

Remove Favorites from Navigation Pane

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder]
  "Attributes"=dword:a9400100

To restore Favorites to its default setting (i.e., so it shows):

  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder]
  "Attributes"=dword:a0900100

To remove Libraries, change this registry value:

  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\ShellFolder]
  "Attributes"=dword:b090010d

To restore Libraries to its default setting (i.e., so it shows):

  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\ShellFolder]
  "Attributes"=dword:b080010d

To remove Homegroup (and stop Homegroup networking functionality): Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> HomeGroup, and click on Leave the homegroup link to unjoin from any existing home group. Note: If the home group are shared and hosted from the PC, all HomeGroup connections will be disconnected. Click on Leave the homegroup and confirm. In the future, if you want to use Homegroup networking you can create a homegroup using this same dialog. Go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools, and double click on Services. Alternatively, type services.msc in Start Search. For each of the following two services:

HomeGroup Listener HomeGroup Provider

Do the following:

Stop the service, and then double click on the service to open Properties dialog, and set its Startup type to Disabled. Click OK when done. In order to reinstate Homegroup functionality in the future, you will want to set the Startup type back to Manual. The HomeGroup icon and group will no longer be shown in the navigation pane of Windows Explorer in Windows 7. Note that this does not interrupt "traditional" windows networking functionality (e.g., Map Network Drive).

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ar/w7itproui/thread/ac419c2b-4a38-44f0-b1f0-b0ed9fdcfdeb

How to Add or Remove Network from Windows 7 Navigation Pane

  1. Open the Start Menu and type regedit.exe in the search line, then press enter.

  2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

  3. In Regedit, go to the location below:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}\ShellFolder

  1. In the left pane of regedit, right click on the ShellFolder key and click on Permissions.

  2. At the top, select the Administrators group. At the bottom, check the Allow box to the right of Full Control and click on OK.

  3. In the right pane of regedit, right click on Attributes and click on Modify.

  4. To Add Network to the Navigation Pane NOTE: This is the default setting. A) Type in b0040064 and click on OK.

  5. To Remove Network from the Navigation Pane A) Type in b0940064 and click on OK.

  6. If you have 64-bit Windows 7 Installed A) In Regedit, go to the location below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}\ShellFolder

B) Repeat steps 4 to 7/8 above. 10. Close regedit.

  1. Restart the computer to fully apply.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39699-network-add-remove-navigation-pane.html

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  • Yes, I have. I am using the solution from the second link right now. The problem with this approach is that it hides the Network shortcut for all users and does not allow me to specify what machines should only show up on the list. I have a few file servers that I want users to see, but nothing else besides that.
    – User238626
    Feb 13, 2014 at 17:40
  • how are these values forged? b090010d 'libraries off', b080010d 'libraries on'. what do the hex ids represent? where is the source?
    – n611x007
    Aug 19, 2014 at 11:04
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If memory serves, "Network Places/Neighbourhood" uses (only) NetBIOS (and maybe WINS) to populate itself.

Try turning off NetBIOS over TCP/IP on all the systems' network adapters to prevent them from broadcasting that they exist.

More info on things you may run into doing this are covered well in this article: Life Without NetBIOS

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  • Interesting. I will look into this. Thank you.
    – User238626
    Feb 13, 2014 at 20:49
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Setup the solution as a group policy then deny it being applied to a group whose members include the people you want.

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    Please consider adding more detail to your answer and addressing all queries from OP.
    – CallumDA
    Jan 26, 2015 at 17:08

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