AD RMS clients do not authenticate federated identity providers in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Vista

Consider the following scenario:

• You have two partner organizations sharing sensitive data that is protected by using Active Directory Right Management Service (AD RMS).
• The two organizations have set up a federated relationship. The federated relationship lets users access protected partner resources by using internal identities for authentication.
• The partner federation server dictates the form of authentication that is required. For example, the server can be configured to require authentication such as forms-based authentication, basic authentication, or Windows Integrated authentication.

In this scenario, the AD RMS client that is running Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) supports only Windows Integrated authentication. The functionality is not interoperable with the usual configuration of the federation servers. Therefore, the protected data cannot be accessed.

Note An application may use an AD RMS client in silent mode. Therefore, the AD RMS client cannot use Windows Internet Explorer to handle authentication when it is required.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, your computer must be running Windows Vista SP2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2. For more information about how to obtain a Windows Vista service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to obtain a Windows Server 2008 service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You must restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace a previously released hotfix.

File information

The English (United States) version of this hotfix installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. The dates and the times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The dates and the times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time together with your current daylight saving time (DST) bias. Additionally, the dates and the times may change when you perform certain operations on the files.

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 file information notes

Important Windows Vista hotfixes and Windows Server 2008 hotfixes are included in the same packages. However, only "Windows Vista" is listed on the Hotfix Request page. To request the hotfix package that applies to one or both operating systems, select the hotfix that is listed under "Windows Vista" on the page. Always refer to the "Applies To" section in articles to determine the actual operating system that each hotfix applies to.

• The files that apply to a specific product, SR_Level (RTM, SPn), and service branch (LDR, GDR) can be identified by examining the file version numbers as shown in the following table.

  Version	Product	SR_Level	Service branch
  6.0.600 2 . 22xxx	Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008	SP2	LDR

• Service Pack 1 is integrated into the release version of Windows Server 2008. Therefore, RTM milestone files apply only to Windows Vista. RTM milestone files have a 6.0.0000.xxxxxx version number.
• The MANIFEST files (.manifest) and the MUM files (.mum) that are installed for each environment are listed separately in the "Additional file information for Windows Server 2008 and for Windows Vista" section. MUM and MANIFEST files, and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are extremely important to maintaining the state of the updated component. The security catalog files, for which the attributes are not listed, are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008 SP2 and of Windows Vista SP2

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 SP2 and of Windows Vista SP2

For all supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 SP2

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

By default, the AD RMS client operates in silent mode, and user input is not required. The partner federation server may be configured to require user input. For example, the partner federation server may be configured to require forms-based authentication. In this case, the AD RMS client must be configured to ignore the silent mode. The form appears in a browser window and the user is promoted for authentication.

To configure the AD RMS client, include the name of the application in the following AppList registry key:



A FederationHomeRealm register key is required for the AD RMS client to work in any federation scenario. This is an established requirement. We have included it here for completeness.

The value of the EnableBrowser entry should be set to 1 if the organization wants to use the browser to handle authentication scenarios such as forms based authentication. The setting of the EnableBrowser entry should match the setting of the entry on the federation server.

For example, if the federation server is configured to use forms-based authentication, the FederationHomeRealm registration key is required. If the federation server is configured to use Windows Integrated authentication, this key is not required. You can limit the effect of the Browser key that was discussed earlier in the "More information" section by implicitly listing the applications for which the AD RMS client should always require a browser window. To do this, configure the following registry key:




For example, Winword.exe, Powerpoint.exe or Excel.exe.

The setting of the EnableBrowser entry should match the setting of the entry on the federation server. For example, if the federation server is configured to use forms-based authentication, this key is required. If the federation server is configured to use Windows Integrated authentication, this key is not required.

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Additional file information

Additional file information for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008

Additional files for all supported x86-based versions of Windows Vista SP2 and of Windows Server 2008 SP2

Additional files for all supported x64-based versions of Windows Vista SP2 and of Windows Server 2008 SP2

Additional files for all supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 SP2