windows server 2008 security configuration wizard

Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard how to#
Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard update#
Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard registration#
Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard Offline#

Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) has been available for some time, back to the Windows Server 2003 days.

Therefore, this tool can’t help you with the majority of the computers on the network, although it does provide a centralized method for configuring some hard to reach areas, such as the firewall. I don’t want to spend too much time on this tool, as it is only for servers, not for desktops. Yes, Group Policy is customizable, but security templates are not. In a similar way that MBSA fails to impress me, security templates fall short of an amazing way to deploy security due to the lack of customization.

Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard how to#

Security templates provide a way to configure some of the most common security features, which can be seen in Figure 3.įigure 3: Security template configuration areas.įor more information on how to leverage security templates into a GPO go here. These pre-configured security templates allowed an administrator to easily implement a baseline of security without much effort. For example, in the Windows 2000 era there were “pre-configured” security templates such as basicsv.inf, hisecdc.inf, securedc.inf, compatws.inf, etc. Security templates have been leveraged, then not used, then leveraged, then not used… as each operating system has been updated. Since Group Policy can configure multiple computers with just one set of configurations, security templates provide a way to configure many computers with very little effort. Security templates provide an administrator the opportunity to configure some key security features, then use Group Policy via Active Directory to deploy the settings. Security templates are not new, actually, they were first introduced in Windows NT! Yeah, this security tool has been around the block, but still provides some good centralized security options. I wish I could add additional Registry entries to the scan, so I can include all of the other security settings that need to be configured. The major issues that I have with MBSA are that it just does not have any customization and the security scans seem to be arbitrary and not very extensive. Once a computer is scanned, the results are clearly displayed and easy to read as shown in Figure 2.įigure 2: MBSA 2.2 scan output and summary.

You can either scan the computer where you are running MBSA, or you can pick a range of IP addresses.įigure 1: MBSA 2.2 configuration options before scanning.

Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard update#

Windows Server Update Services 2.0 and 3.0 compatibilityĪs you can see from Figure 1, the tool is easy to configure and picking the computers you want to scan is easy too.

Output completed scan reports to a user-selected directory path or network share.

Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard registration#

Automatic Microsoft Update registration and agent update for graphical interface or from the command-line.

Improved support for Windows XP Embedded platform.

Support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows server 2008 security configuration wizard Offline#

Offline mode from graphical and command-line interfaces.

Other features that MBSA v2.2 brings to the table include: The updated version of MBSA is not all that shocking, as it now supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, which everyone on the planet seems to be migrating to.

The latest version of MBSA is v2.2 and can be downloaded here. Yeah, MBSA does more than scan for patches, but the overall sense of the tool from nearly everyone is that it was never really all that useful. The tool had great hopes when it first arrived on the scene, but has never developed into anything more than a tool that can be used to scan for installed patches. MBSA has now been around for quite some time. Although the new, and even older, Windows operating systems are and can be more secure, what tools are available to help you configure your system for more than the firewall and UAC? They have been hardening the “out of the box” experience for some time and with the new Firewall and User Account Control features that come preconfigured, it is no wonder why many are moving to these more powerful and secure operating systems. Microsoft has been putting more effort into security, which Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 proves.