Is it possible to globally disable DDNS registrations on Win XP Pro via the registry?

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Trust No One

Hi Folks,

I've spent hours on this one. I would greatly appreciate if someone
could provide the definitive answer.

The background is that I would like to disable Dynamic DNS
registrations for *all* network adapters for my XP Pro workstations. I
would like to do this via a single registry entry which acts globally
for all network interfaces.

This is certainly possible under Windows 2003 and Windows 2000
versions by use of the "DisableDynamicUpdate registry key". (see KB
Article 246804) - Note however that this KB Article does _not_ mention
Windows XP in the applicable operating systems list.

However the Windows XP resource kit document does state that this key
works under Windows XP: see http://tinyurl.com/3g6d5

My testing indicates that the "DisableDynamicUpdate" registry key does
not work under Windows XP.

I done some further digging and an archived Microsoft Support Webcast
on DNS states that the registry key has changed under Windows XP:see
http://tinyurl.com/yv4bs

However the new key name given in the support webcast -
"RegistrationEnabled" definitely does not work on a Global basis. More
on this below.

Finally KB article 834440 suggests that the "DisableDyamicUpdate" does
not work under XP, and the "RegistrationEnabled" and
"RegisterAdapterName" keys need to be set individually on each
interface (by a script say) to achieve the desired result.

Now you see why I'm confused :)

Can anyone provide a definitive answer? Does a registry entry similar
in effect to "DisableDynamicUpdate" exist under WinXP Pro?

Best Wishes
 
Hi

This is actually managed in Group Policy for Windows XP. If you're in a
Windows Server 2003 domain, it will also have the functionality in the
system.adm file. For a Windows 2000 domain, you'll need to manage the group
policy object from a Windows XP client with an administrator account and
load the Windows XP system.adm file.

Policy setting is found in:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> DNS
Client -> Dynamic Update.

Looking at the system.adm file, this appears to map to "RegistrationEnabled"
in "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\DNSClient". Referring to:

834440 The SetDynamicDNSRegistration method of the
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=834440

The static registry key is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\<NetworkAdapterGUID>

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Mark Renoden said:
Hi

This is actually managed in Group Policy for Windows XP. If you're in a
Windows Server 2003 domain, it will also have the functionality in the
system.adm file. For a Windows 2000 domain, you'll need to manage the group
policy object from a Windows XP client with an administrator account and
load the Windows XP system.adm file.
Click to expand...
Mark,

Thanks for your reply. It has convinced me that I'm not going crazy :)

My problem is that the XP pro workstations in question (several hundred )
are currently in a NT4 domain :(

I was hoping that a single global registry entry (like DisableDynamicUpdate
in W2K and W2K3) existed, as this would be trivial to roll out and moreover
would be common across W2K and XP Pro workstations.

Seeing that this is not possible through a simple registry patch, we have
knocked together a script for XP that enumerates the active network adapters
and the amends the "RegistrationEnabled" and "RegisterAdapterName" values.

On the bright side this encourages us to hurry along our AD migration, which
is currently in progress.

Best Wishes
 
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