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   3.3.5. Windows 95 and Windows 98 Security Setup

In a network configuration, the default behavior of COM is to make a secure call and then default to an un-secure call. In a Windows 95- or Windows 98-only network, change COM's default behavior so that only un-secure calls can be made.

If there is a Windows NT or Windows 2000 domain, both Windows 95 and Windows 98 can provide authentication and authorization using a pass-through security mechanism and no changes are necessary.

To change this behavior, the following tasks must be completed:

• Set the authentication level for call security to be NONE for both client and server.
• On activation, the client must specify an authentication level of NONE.
• Disable reference tracking. Windows 95/98 COM Servers When a Windows 95/98 COM server is used to serve objects to remote clients, make sure to:

1. Run Regedit. Verify that the EnableDCOM and EnableRemoteConnections registry keys under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\OLE are set to Y on the server machine. EnableDCOM must be set to Y to enable any distributed COM functionality. EnableRemoteConnections must be set to Y to let the machine act as a server.
2. On a Windows 95 computer, manually start the server. Windows 95 does not support launching servers through COM. Windows 95/98 client and Windows NT Server

The authentication level is negotiated as follows:

If you have a Windows 95/98 client with authentication level Connect and a Windows NT server object with authentication level Encrypt, COM will try to use Encrypt for calls in both directions.

Since Windows 95/98 cannot receive calls at Encrypt, the Windows NT computer cannot call the Windows 95/98 machine. Thus both the client and server have to set the authentication level to the lowest common value allowable for any call in any direction.

Similarly, if you have two processes, one with a logon token and the other with an impersonation token, and you set the authentication level to none in the second, it still won't be able to call the first if its authentication level is not none.

For a detailed explanation of these issues, see the MSDN Knowledge Base article Q174024 entitled FAQ: DCOM95 Frequently Asked Questions.

For a detailed explanation of security issues, see the MSDN Knowledge Base Security in COM.

   3.3.6. DCOM Resources

 For more information about DCOM, try the following resources:

• The Microsoft COM Technologies Web site at the Microsoft web site (http://www.microsoft.com/) contains information for understanding DCOM principles.
• The Microsoft Developers Network Web site at the Microsoft web site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/) provides more information about DCOM architecture and configuration, useful for developers and system administrators.
• Download the latest version of DCOM from Microsoft web site (http://www.microsoft.com/).

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