How to enable anonymous access in SharePoint Server 2016/2019

This SharePoint 2016 tutorial explains, how to enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2016 site. The same steps we can follow to enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2013/2019. We will also check, how to enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2010.

When you enable anonymous access in SharePoint sites it will not check who is accessing the site. Without entering credentials, users can access the SharePoint 2016/2013 sites.

Once you enable anonymous access, both anonymous and authenticated users can browse the entire Web site, including any list, library, folder within a list or library, list item, or document that inherits its permissions from the Web site.

Generally, if you want to share information with a public view then you can enable anonymous access. Users should be able to visit the site without a login.

Enable anonymous access SharePoint 2016

To make a site accessible for anonymous users we have to change in web application level as well as at the site level.

I had one web application in SharePoint 2016 and I have also created one site collection using the team site template. By default, it is having the default authentication. Now we will see how we can enable anonymous access.

If you have not started with SharePoint 2016 you can see the step-by-step installation of SharePoint 2016.

Web Application changes:

Open your SharePoint 2016 central administration site and then click on the “Manage web application” link which is under “Application Management”.

This will display all your web applications, select the particular web application, and click on Authentication Providers from the ribbon.

Then click on the Zone link as shown in the fig below:

Then in the Authentication providers screen select the “Enable anonymous access” checkbox as shown in the fig below:

Click on OK to save the changes.

Site Level Changes:

Now we have to do the SharePoint site level changes.

Open the site in the browser and then click on the gear icon (settings) and then click on the site settings. Then on the site settings page click on “Site permissions” which is under “User and Permissions”.

Now from the ribbon click on Anonymous Access button like below:

Once you click on the button, it will display what anonymous users can access. Choose entire website option like below:

You can also set so that anonymous users can access the only Entire web site.

Once you click on OK, you will be able to see it will add “Anonymous Users” in the site permission and it will set permission level as an entire website like below:

If you will try to open the site in a different browser you can see I can visit the site without giving my credentials.

Also, I can click on the Sign-in button to sign in with my windows credentials.

Enable Anonymous Access in SharePoint 2010

Now, we will see how to enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2010. Once you enable anonymous access, then users do not need to provide their credentials to access the site, rather they can access the site without entering any credentials in SharePoint.

Enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2010

To enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2010, we have to do changes in the web application as well as in the site.

SharePoint Web Application Changes:

First open SharePoint 2010 central administration then click on Application Management and Manage web application. Then from the list of web applications select the web application and from the Ribbon select Authentication Provides as shown in the figure below:

Then from the authentication provider select default as shown in the figure below.

Then from the Edit Authentication dialog select Anonymous Access as shown in the figure below:

SharePoint Site Collection Level Changes:

First open the SharePoint 2010 site collection, then Site Actions then site settings. Then from the Users and Permissions page click on Site permissions as shown in the figure below:

Then from the Ribbon click on Anonymous Access as shown in the figure below:

Then from the Anonymous Access dialog box select Entire Web Site as shown in the figure below:

Then click on Ok.

You may like the following SharePoint 2016 tutorials:

• SharePoint web application (Everything you need to know)
• Configure Excel Service Application in SharePoint 2013/2016
• Configure user profile service application in SharePoint 2016 step by step tutorial
• Page Viewer Web Part in SharePoint
• How to Change Layout of a Page in SharePoint 2013
• http error 503. the service is unavailable in SharePoint 2013/2016/2010
• The workbook cannot be opened error in SharePoint 2013

In this SharePoint tutorial, we discussed how to enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2019/2016/2013 sites. In the same way, also, we can enable anonymous access in SharePoint 2019.