How To: Enable or Disable SSL/TLS Protocol Versions via Registry Editor

Version Affected: All

 

Overview

This article explains how to enable or disable specific SSL/TLS protocol versions on a Windows server using the registry, which is sometimes needed for security hardening or to work around cipher/protocol restrictions.

Enable or Disable an SSL/TLS Protocol Version

1. Open regedit.exe and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols
2. Expand Protocols to see each SSL/TLS protocol version.

3. Expand the protocol version you want to change, then expand Server or Client depending on which side you want to affect.
4. Create or edit the DisabledByDefault and Enabled DWORD values:
   • 0 (or hex 0x00000000) turns the setting off.
   • 1 (or hex 0xffffffff, decimal 4294967295) turns the setting on.
5. For example, to disable TLS 1.0 on the server side, set DisabledByDefault to 1 and Enabled to 0 under TLS 1.0\Server.
6. Restart the server for the registry change to take effect.

SecureAuth Knowledge Base Articles provide information based on specific use cases and may not apply to all appliances or configurations. Be advised that these instructions could cause harm to the environment if not followed correctly or if they do not apply to the current use case.

Customers are responsible for their own due diligence prior to utilizing this information and agree that SecureAuth is not liable for any issues caused by misconfiguration directly or indirectly related to SecureAuth products.