How to Configure Public and Private Computer Settings in OWA 2013

The new Exchange 2013 Outlook Web App (OWA) logon page no longer allows users to select whether they are using a public or a private computer. By default, OWA 2013 assumes users are using a private computer the default timeout of 8 hours is used. This timeout specifies how long a user can be inactive before requiring him/her to sign in again.

The LogonPagePublicPrivateSelectionEnabled parameter in the Set-OWAVirtualDirectory cmdlet specifies whether the OWA sign-in page includes this private/public computer sign-in option. While by default this parameter is set to True in Exchange 2010, in 2013 it is set to False. To change this on server CAS1, simply run the following cmdlets:

Set-OwaVirtualDirectory “CAS1\owa (Default Web Site)” -LogonPagePublicPrivateSelectionEnabled $True
IISreset /noforce

Similarly to previous versions of Exchange, the default timeout for private computers is still 8 hours for public computers 15 minutes. You can change this by running the following cmdlets to create the necessary registry keys:

Set-ItemProperty “HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA” -Name PrivateTimeout -Value "timeout_minutes" -Type DWORD

Set-ItemProperty “HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA” -Name PublicTimeout -Value "timeout_minutes" -Type DWORD

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