JSI Tip 5184. How do I disable the automatic search for network resources in Windows XP?

Windows XP attempts to make it easy to connect to shared resources by periodically scanning thenetwork for new shared resources. When located, it adds an icon for the resource in My Network Places. If the resource is a printer, it also adds an icon on the Printers and Faxes folder.

The overhead for this convenience is minimal, but in most organizations, there are reasons to disable it:

- Laptop users who move from network to network.

- Limited scope users who can only use a few shared folders and a specific set of printers.

To manually disable the automatic search for network resources:

1. Control Panel / [Appearance and Themes] / Folder Options.

2. Select the View tab.

3. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers box.

4. Press Apply and OK.

You can disable this setting in a logon script, for all Windows XP users:

1. Copy / paste the following to DisableASNFP.reg and place it in the NETLOGON share of all your domain controllers:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer]
"NoFileFolderConnection"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced]
"NoNetCrawling"=dword:00000001

2. In your logon script, add the following:

if /i NOT "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" goto :NODASNFP
for /f "Tokens=3" %%a in ('ver') do set XP=%%a
if "%XP%" NEQ "XP" goto :NODASNFP
regedit /s %LOGONSERVER%NETLOGONDisableASNFP.reg
:NODASNFP