It’s an old vulnerability but still exists.

Due to security vulnerabilities with NetBIOS over TCP/IP, you may wish to disable it by following instructions.

There are two ways to disable NetBIOS and this works on the majority of Windows OS including Windows 8/10 desktop and Windows 2012/2016/2019 servers.

Disable NetBIOS using GUI

  • Right-click on the Network icon on the start bar at the right-hand side and click on open network and sharing center
  • Click on Change adapter settings
  • Right-click on your network interface and click on Properties

network-interface

  • Select Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties
  • Click on Advanced on the properties window
  • Click on the WINS tab and select Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP

advanced-tcp-properties

  • Click OK

Done, NetBIOS over TCP/IP is disabled now.

Disable NetBIOS through Registry

If you are using Windows Server core edition or prefer using registry then the following will help.

  • Launch Registry Editor
  • Navigate to the following
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesNetBTParametersInterfaces
  • You may have multiple interfaces. Go to the respective interface where you want to disable
  • Double click on NetbiosOptions and change the value to 2 and Ok

regedit-disable-netbios

That’s all!

Conclusion

Disabling NetBIOS on Windows is easy as you could see above.

Next, explore multiple ways to Boot Windows in safe mode.