Users who are members of the local Administrators group have access to all the content in your Windows SharePoint Services Web sites

In Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, you may experience the following problem.

A user who has not been permitted access to the content in your Windows SharePoint Services Web sites has full access to this content. The user can visit any Web page in all your Windows SharePoint Services Web sites. Because of the security requirements in your organization, you may not want all the members of the local Administrators group to have this access.

This problem occurs if the user is a member of the local Administrators group on the computer that is running Windows SharePoint Services. Users who are members of the local Administrators group have full access to all the content in your Windows SharePoint Services Web sites.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Windows SharePoint Services service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Note This hotfix adds functionality that is not implemented automatically. To implement this functionality, follow the instructions in the "Service Pack Installation Information" section.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows SharePoint Services. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

Because of file dependencies, you must be running Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 1 (SP1) to install this hotfix. For more information about how to obtain Windows SharePoint Services SP1, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

Registry information

You do not have to create or modify a registry key to use this hotfix.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Service pack installation information

To resolve this issue, install Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2. Then, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   stsadm -o setproperty -propertyname denymachineadminaccess -propertyvalue 1
3. Type iisreset, and then press ENTER.

To restore Windows SharePoint Services to its original behavior, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   stsadm -o setproperty -propertyname denymachineadminaccess -propertyvalue 0
3. Type iisreset, and then press ENTER.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

After you install and enable this hotfix, you must explicitly permit access to the members of the local Administrators group for the content in your Windows SharePoint Services Web sites.

Important You should not consider this hotfix to be a comprehensive security solution. After you install this hotfix, local computer administrators still have access to the SharePoint Central Administration Web pages. Therefore, users could modify sections of a Windows SharePoint Services Web site that the users do not have explicit access to. For example, users who are members of the local Administrators group could assign themselves to the SharePoint Admins group by using the Set SharePoint administration group link link. These users would then have rights to visit all the Windows SharePoint Services Web sites.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: