How to Reduce Access to Application Pages for Anonymous Users in SharePoint 2013 with Limited-access User Permission Lockdown Mode

As you know, in SharePoint 2010, users can anonymously access sites, lists, and libraries. But in SharePoint 2013, you can configure a limited access list and library with limitations pertaining to anonymous users. What this means is that although anonymous can access a site, they can’t access your list and/or library. This feature is called limited-access user permission lockdown mode.

Here are the steps involved to show how it works:

    • Enable anonymous access for Web applications in Central Admin (Central Admin > Manage Web Applications > Authentication Providers) by checking the checkbox:
    • Grant rights to anonymous users of the site collection in Site Permissions by selecting the Entire Web site radio button:
    • Grant sitewide rights to anonymous users in Library / List (if needed):
    • Before activating the Limited-access user permission lockdown mode feature, anonymous users can view and access any library or list on the site:
  • After activating the feature, as you will see, anonymous users cannot access any library or list which wasn’t explicitly set to allow anonymous access (and can view the site only).

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