Export Internet Explorer Security Zone Information

Internet Explorer assigns a security zone to any website that the user is visiting. Next to the two generic zones Internet (all that are not in another zone), Local Intranet (local sites) are Trusted sites and Restricted Sites. Trusted sites will usually have a lower security level than restricted sites. One could for instance move financial sites or sites from companies like eBay or Amazon into the Trusted sites list. Restricted sites are those that should be accessed with lower permissions. Good for websites that need to be accessed but are not that trusted.

If a user accesses the Internet with multiple computers he might want to use the same security zone settings on all of them. The easiest way to do that would be to export the security zones on one computer and export them to all others instead of adding sites to the zones manually on all computers.

Internet Explorer is storing the security zone information in the Windows Registry. To export the settings of the currently logged in user one would have to open the Registry with [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [Enter].

The Registry key is located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

A left click on Domains will select that key. The next step would be to open the File Menu and select Export. Enter a name and save the data as a file on the computer.

The newly created file has to be transferred to another computer. A right-click on the file at the new computer will open a context menu. The entry Merge will add the data to the correct Registry key so that the zone information of the first computer will be added to it as well.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday November 26, 2008 -
Tags:ie, internet explorer security, internet explorer tips, internet-explorer, registry tips, security zone, windows registry