National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - Information technology Laboratory (ITL)

The United States Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB) - Windows 7 Content

Warning Notice

Do not attempt to implement any of the settings without first testing them in a non-operational environment. These recommendations have only been tested on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Windows 7 Enterprise x86, and Windows 7 Enterprise x64. These settings may be applicable to other Windows systems and service packs; however, NIST has not tested other Windows based systems with these settings. Please see the National Checklist Program (NCP) website for configuration guides related to other Windows Based systems and applications.

The draft download packages contain recommended security settings; they are not meant to replace well-structured policy or sound judgment. Furthermore, these recommendations do not address site-specific configuration issues. Care must be taken when implementing these settings to address local operational and policy concerns.

These recommendations were developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which collaborated with DoD and Microsoft to produce the Windows 7, Windows 7 Firewall, Internet Explorer 8 USGCB. Pursuant to title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, these recommendations are not subject to copyright protection and are in the public domain. NIST assumes no responsibility whatsoever for their use by other parties, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about their quality, reliability, or any other characteristic. We would appreciate acknowledgement if the recommendations are used.


Download Packages

The following table provides the downloads for the Windows 7 USGCB Content. VHDs are also available to use for testing. Additional information can be found in the FAQ.

Documentation GPOs SCAP Content CCE to 800-53 Mappings
  • USGCB Major Version 1.2.x.0 Settings
    Please refer to the top-level Microsoft Content Page for the listing of all USGCB settings and associated hash values.
  • USGCB Major Version 1.2.x.0 Known Issues
    Please refer to the top-level Microsoft Content Page for the listing of all known issues relating to USGCB content and associated hash values.
  • USGCB/FDCC Comparison for Windows - 2010.11.09
    sha1
    6920E757F12E00ED58E39E27FCB2F79B35BBFF8F
    sha256
    7659F2007E3A0286EBCC344885F68540A4B93849628A0603382F28AE74110E18
  • USGCB Windows 7 GPOs - 2011.11.10
    sha1
    DF9CE1ED4EAFC3F6D2DAA16D675FF73B0C803471
    sha256
    C56B3E5F6034B8F76DE0D13375879EB93A568FEBA30025887CB5C66D3887F38E
  • SCAP 1.2 (Oval 5.10)

    Windows 7 Content - 2012.11.28
    sha1
    B5F95640EE25F1ACB01C036CA0A4971130B2DA75
    sha256
    583C111E79D2E9A6B26FC6252A9B9A91C38413F35322B6D407CD75ED139BFB2E
  • SCAP 1.0 (Oval 5.4)

    Windows 7 Content - 2013.04.29
    sha1
    6D676886994A0ACDA78253CDB76985D89AB1098E
    sha256
    62FEB8E2872F9F1335EB34DD91F4F87EC2A170E9003044679990CBA5E8B5C48A
  • SCAP 1.0 (Oval 5.3)

    Windows 7 Content - 2013.04.29
    sha1
    F5197C79FEC72F18942A96849B767A36AFA9DCE0
    sha256
    2F344BBD5B32773C96293B337644CDEE6D9C04B254F2B7ABBAA1229CFC9E3690
  • Windows 7 SCAP Patch Content - 2013.04.29
    sha1
    6336349E982821B02DC1664B5FBCB38D78F22F6B
    sha256
    335C5A3A65FB50BA9B6D46AF1D0F9B506562C8F0E835E044279BD426F24618E4

Update History
Date Documentation GPOs SCAP Content CCE to 800-53 Mappings
April 29, 2013 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
March 21, 2013 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
February 25, 2013 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
January 22, 2013 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
December 28, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
December 05, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
November 28, 2012 No changes No changes SCAP 1.2 (Oval 5.10) content signature updated; no other change to content. No changes
October 31, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
August 17, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
July 30, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
June 15, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. No changes
May 21, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted. SCAP 1.2 (Oval 5.10) content signature updated; no change to content No changes
April 23, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
March 22, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
February 23, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
January 23, 2012 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
November 14, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
November 10, 2011 No changes USGCB GPOs posted No changes No changes
October 26, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
October 17, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
October 04, 2011 No changes No changes No changes National Checklist Program's Machine-readable CCE to 800-53 Mappings linked
September 21, 2011 USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 Settings and Known Issues posted No changes USGCB major version 1.2.x.0 SCAP content posted No changes
August 18, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
July 27, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
July 06, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
April 28, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
March 18, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
February 22, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
February 04, 2011 No changes USGCB major version 1.1.x.0 GPOs posted No changes No changes
January 31, 2011 USGCB major version 1.1.x.0 Settings and Known Issues posted No changes Renamed patch file No changes
January 20, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
January 07, 2011 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
November 17, 2010 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
November 09, 2010 USGCB/FDCC Comparison for Windows updated No changes No changes No changes
November 03, 2010 No changes Removed all Alpha and Beta instances in XML results files USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
October 27, 2010 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
October 20, 2010 No changes USGCB GPOs posted No changes No changes
September 30, 2010 No changes No changes USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
September 24, 2010 USGCB major version 1.0.x.0 Settings Known Issues posted No changes USGCB major version 1.0.x.0 SCAP content posted CCE mapping updates reflected in USGCB Settings spreadsheet
August 31, 2010 USGCB Beta Settings and updated SCAP content issues posted USGCB Beta GPOs posted USGCB Beta SCAP content posted CCE mapping updates reflected in USGCB Beta Settings spreadsheet
August 20, 2010 No changes No changes Alpha USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
August 09, 2010 No changes No changes Alpha USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
August 03, 2010 No changes No changes Alpha USGCB OVAL 5.3 patch content updated No changes
July 20, 2010 No changes No changes Alpha USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
June 30, 2010 USGCB/FDCC Comparison for Windows added No changes No changes No changes
June 16, 2010 No changes No changes Alpha USGCB OVAL 5.3 & 5.4 patch content updated No changes
May 28, 2010 Setting clarification provided, no settings have changed Minor bug-fixes implemented Minor SCAP bug-fixes implemented Non-machine readable mappings can be found in USGCB Alpha Settings. Please note that these non-machine readable mappings will be removed when the machine-readable mappings are available.
April 23, 2010 Alpha Content Released Alpha Content Released Alpha Content Released Alpha Content Released