In this article, I will show you how to display logon banners for Windows PCs via Windows Registry. Oftentimes, users undermine the importance of security practices. However, the display of a warning message before signing in helps prevent an attack or warn malicious or uninformed users about the consequences of their actions before it happens. Please here are some related articles: New Windows 11 encryption features and security, Learn about “The different Windows Logon Types“, and how to fix “The logon attempt failed for the remote desktop connection“.
Why Display Logon Banners for Windows PCs
See this guide if you wish to learn more about the reasons and how to display interactive logon messages for Windows PCs via GPO. It helps reinforce corporate policies by notifying employees of appropriate policies during the sign-in process.
It’s advisable to set Interactive logon: Message text and Texts for users attempting to log on to communicate the legal requirement etc as the case may be.
Windows Registry Editor
The Windows Registry is a system-defined database in which applications and system components store and retrieve configuration data. The data stored in the registry varies according to the version of Microsoft Windows PC you are uisng. Applications use the registry API to retrieve, modify, or delete registry data.
Please see how to fix “Error 1385: The user has not been granted the requested logon type at this time“, and “How to fix Computer Policy could not be updated successfully“
You should not edit registry data that does not belong to your application unless it is absolutely necessary. If there is an error in the registry, your system may not function properly. If this happens, you can restore the registry to the state it was in when you last started the computer successfully. But before this can be achieved, you must backup your Registry, else, you risk re-installing your Windows PC.
Configure Interactive Logon Messages for Windows PCs
The Interactive logon: Message text for users attempting to log on and Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to log on policy settings and are closely related.” To display a custom banner message on the Windows login screen, you can either use the Windows Registry or the Local Security Policy.
In this article, our focus is using the Windows Registry. Therefore, to display a logon banner for Computers via Windows. You will have to launch the Registry Editor by hitting the “Win + R,” type in regedit and hit the OK and Enter button.
Alternatively, you can type regedit from the search button
Now, the Registry Editor is open. navigate to the following key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Policies/System/
The Legalnoticetext policy setting specifies a text message that displays to users when they sign in. The second policy which is Legalnoticecaption specifies a title for the title bar of the text message window.
On the right pane as shown above. locate the value “legalnoticecaption”. Right-click on it and then select “Modify. Or double-click on it.
The above action will open the Edit String window. Under the “Value Data” field, enter the message title and click on the “Ok” button to save the changes.
Remember to do the same for the
Legalnoticetext.
Once you are done with the changes, this is how it will look in your Windows Registry.
From this point onward. You will see a message when you try to log in to your Windows machine. Here is a related post for my beloved Veeam Community “Preventive Control: Implement Logon banners for your VBR Server“.
Usually, a reboot is not necessary. But if you wish to view the configured message immediately, simply restart your PC. You will find the configured message before the Login Screen.
Enter your login information now
Remove interactive logon messages for Windows PCs
These steps are very simple. navigate to the following key and remove both messages.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Policies/System/
You could also save the below as a registry file with the .reg extension and run the script
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Policies/System]"LegalNoticeText"="Warning this is my message""LegalNoticeCaption"="My caption"
A requirement for successfully prosecuting unauthorised (disgruntled users) who maliciously access your server(s) is by having a warning banner displayed.
I hope you found this blog post helpful on how to display logon banners for Windows PCs via Windows Registry. Please let me know in the comment section if you have any questions.
