Include Internet in Safe Zones for Automatic Picture Download

UserNeeds changes for IntuneL_BlockInternet

Supported on SUPPORTED_Windows7 (defined in the Windows templates)

5568.1000

What it does

This policy setting controls whether pictures and external content in HTML e-mail messages from untrusted senders on the Internet are downloaded without Outlook users explicitly choosing to do so. If you enable this policy setting, Outlook will automatically download external content in all e-mail messages sent over the Internet and users will not be able to change the setting. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Outlook does not consider the Internet a safe zone, which means that Outlook will not automatically download content from external servers unless the sender is included in the Safe Senders list. Recipients can choose to download external content from untrusted senders on a message-by-message basis.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Registry key: software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail
Value name: internet
When enabled: DWORD 1
When disabled: DWORD 0

Why it needs changes for Intune

Policy references a Windows supportedOn definition.
ADMX-INTUNE-WINDOWS-SUPPORTEDON-REFERENCE

Security baselines

Microsoft's Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise 2512 sets this to Disabled, in its GPO “MSFT Microsoft 365 Apps v2512 - User”.

Policy value internet: Sets internet to 0 (REG_DWORD).

Read from the registry.pol files in the baselines' GPO backups, downloaded from Microsoft's Security Compliance Toolkit. All baselines

Configure and deploy

Choose a state; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · User · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail]
"internet"=dword:00000001

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Include Internet in Safe Zones for Automatic Picture Download
# Name: L_BlockInternet
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: outlk16.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail' -Name 'internet' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_outlk16/L_BlockInternet

ADMX SyncML candidate

<SyncML xmlns="SYNCML:SYNCML1.2">
  <SyncBody>
    <Replace>
      <CmdID>1</CmdID>
      <Item>
        <Meta>
          <Format>chr</Format>
          <Type>text/plain</Type>
        </Meta>
        <Target>
          <LocURI>./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_outlk16/L_BlockInternet</LocURI>
        </Target>
        <Data>&lt;enabled/&gt;</Data>
      </Item>
    </Replace>
    <Final/>
  </SyncBody>
</SyncML>

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Include Internet in Safe Zones for Automatic Picture Download
# Name: L_BlockInternet
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: outlk16.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail' -Name 'internet' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 1
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail\internet') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Include Internet in Safe Zones for Automatic Picture Download
# Name: L_BlockInternet
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: outlk16.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail' -Name 'internet' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

History 1 retained release

5568.100010 Aug 2026
- Already present in the first release ChangeIntel keeps.

Template

Internal name: L_BlockInternet
Namespace: outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows
Template file: outlk16.admx
Release: Microsoft 365 Apps 5568.1000 · file set 8be05d876aae137d…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy Area="Security Baseline" AreaCategory="Zones and Locations" class="User" displayName="$(string.L_BlockInternet)" explainText="$(string.L_BlockInternetExplain)" key="software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\mail" name="L_BlockInternet" valueName="internet" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7" />
      <enabledValue>
        <decimal value="1" />
      </enabledValue>
      <disabledValue>
        <decimal value="0" />
      </disabledValue>
    </policy>

Editor controls

Supported platforms and category

outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings
<category displayName="$(string.L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings)" name="L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_Security" />
    </category>
outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook
<category displayName="$(string.L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook)" name="L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_Security
<category displayName="$(string.L_Security)" name="L_Security" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook" />
    </category>
outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:unresolved:Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7
<unresolved reference="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7" />
outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings
<category displayName="$(string.L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings)" name="L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_Security" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_AutomaticPictureDownloadSettings">Automatic Picture Download Settings</string></strings>
outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook
<category displayName="$(string.L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook)" name="L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook">Microsoft Outlook 2016</string></strings>
outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_Security
<category displayName="$(string.L_Security)" name="L_Security" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_MicrosoftOfficeOutlook" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_Security">Security</string></strings>