2013 Open With Explorer

Question

I'm about to start using 2013. I won't want people to use Open With Explorer on a document library.

Can anyone with permission to add documents to the library use the Open With Explorer function?

Can anyone who can view the library use the Open With Explorer function?

Answer 1

• Yes

• Yes

And smart people who read this will understand Open with Explorer is just a WebDav connection to a server where they have at least Read rights.

Maybe the easiest lockout is to extend a MasterPage script with:

window.NavigateHttpFolder=function(){alert('Open with Explorer is prohibited')};

That will scare of most users.

Answer 2

Open with explorer uses Windows Authentication to work. Even if you disable it in SharePoint, any user with proper access in the server will be able to map it and read documents.

That said, there exists a way to disable that option in SharePoint at least. Check: (dead link removed). This is for 2007. For 2013, replace 12 with 15.