To setup MFA for computer logon, complete the following steps.

Build Application 

If you are new to DualShield, then you might want to first refer to the general instruction on how to build an application in DualShield.

Complete the following steps to build an application for windows MFA logon.

Create logon procedure for Windows Logon

For windows MFA logon, the type of logon procedure is called Windows. It is named as such due to historical reasons. 

Below is the general guide for creating a logon procedure in DualShield 

In the Admin Console, in the side panel, select "Authentication | Logon Procedure"

Click the "CREATE" button on the toolbar

In the "Name" field, enter a name for this new logon procedure, e.g. "Office 365"

In the "Type" field, select the type of the logon procedure from the drop list, e.g. "Web SSO"

Click the "SAVE" button to save it.


Now that a new logon procedure is created, you want to add logon steps.

To add logon steps to a logon procedure or to change logon steps, firstly navigate to the logon procedure.

Navigate to Authentication | Logon Procedures

Click the context menu icon "..." of the application to be edited, e.g. "Office 365"

select "Logon Steps" to bring up the logon steps editor

To add a logon step, click the "ADD" button

Select the one or multiple authentication methods that you want to add to this step, e.g. "One-Time Password" 

Click the "SAVE" button to save it

You can change the order of the steps by clicking the "UP" and "DOWN" buttons.

Make sure that the type of the Logon Procedure you have created is Windows 

Once a logon procedure has been created, you need to add logon steps into the newly created logon procedure.

Logon Step for Windows Logon

The computer MFA logon process, including both Windows and Mac OS, is implemented in such a way that both the first factor (i.e. AD password) and the second factor (e.g. one-time password) are entered within one single step on the same screen. The first factor, i.e. AD password, is always required and actually verified by the AD itself, and the second factor, such as an OTP token or FIDO key, is verified by the DualShield MFA server. Therefore, you only need to add one logon step into the logon procedure and you only need to add a second factor into the logon step.

The example below is a logon step that includes 2 authentication options, one-time password and FIDO U2F, which means that the users will be allowed to authenticate themselves using either of the credentials. 

Create application for Windows Logon

In DualShield, an application does not have a type. Therefore, creating an application for any integration is the same. 

In the Admin Console, in the side panel, select "Authentication | Applications"

Select "CREATE" on the toolbar

Select the Realm to be linked to this application, e.g. Deep.Net

Select the Logon Procedure to be used by this application, e.g.. Office 365

Click "SAVE" to save the application.



However, you must select a Logon Procedure that is of the type of Windows. In the example below, we are create an application with a name called "Windows Logon" and the logon procedure we select is a Windows logon procedure.

 

Publish application for Windows Logon

Generally, an application has to be published before it can be accessible by users.

Below is the general guide on how to publish an application.

To publish an application on an authentication agent, first navigate to the application list by selecting "Authentication | Applications" in the side panel

Click the context menu icon "..." of the application, e.g. "Office 365" to access its context menu

select "Agents" in the context menu

select the authentication agent on which the application is to be published, e.g. "Single-Sign-on Server"

Click "SAVE" button to save the settings


A computer logon application has to be published on one or many Windows logon agents. If there is no Windows logon agent found in your DualShield platform, then you must first install a Windows logon agent.


Setup Policies

In the initial stage of deploying MFA across your entire domain and user base, you might not want to enforce MFA on all user accounts on day one. Instead, you might consider enforcing MFA gradually across your user base, in stages. To do so, you need to create a special user group in AD and a couple of logon policies in DualShield. For the simplicity of this guide, let's call this AD group as DualShield MFA group. 

The strategy is that MFA will only be enforced on users who are a member of the DualShield MFA group. All other domain users will be able to continue to login into the domain with password only.

The first step is to create the DualShield MFA group in your AD server. 

Then, create 2 logon policies in your DualShield server. A domain policy and a group policy.

The domain policy is bound to the entire domain, and multi-factor authentication is not required on all users. 

The group policy is bound to the DualShield MFA user group, and multi-factor authentication is required on all users.

Below is an example.

Domain Logon Policy

OptionValue
Category:Logon
Holder:Domain
Domain:Select your AD domain
Name:Describe the purpose of this policy
Apply policy to these applications:Select the application that this policy will be applied to
Authentication:Select "Multi-factor authentication is not required for all users"

Group Logon Policy

OptionValue
Category:Logon
Holder:Group
Domain:Select your AD domain
GroupSelect the DualShield MFA group
Name:Describe the purpose of this policy
Apply policy to these applications:Select the application that this policy will be applied to
Authentication:Select "Multi-factor authentication is required for all users"

For the general guide to creating a logon policy, expand the link below

To create or edit a policy, we need to open the policy editor window first.

Select "Administration | Policies" on the side panel,


To create a new policy, click the "CREATE" button on the toolbar to open the policy editor window.


In the policy editor, firstly select Logon from the Category drop-down list

Policy Bindings

Enter or select the following policy bindings:
Holder:

The policyholder defines the scope of the policy. 

Name:A unique name that describes this policy
Applications:

Optionally, you can bind the policy to a specific application or a list of applications. To specify the application(s),  select the field: Apply policy to these applications

If the field Apply policy to these applications is left empty, then the policy will be applied to all applications. 

Policy Options

Editing the Logon Policy

Logon policy settings can be edited using the following procedure;

  • From the Home page of the Management Console, left click on the menu item "Administration", select "Policies", then in the new tab "POLICIES", select the category "Logon", then click the  button;.

    The Logon policy settings can now be viewed (or edited) by left clicking on the context menu of the Logon policy, then selecting either "View" or "Edit";


After editing the policy setting, a new window titled "Policy - Edit" will open that can be used to edit the policy settings;




The category for this policy is "Logon" (this property cannot be edited).

The holder of this policy is "System" (this property cannot be edited).

The name assigned to identify the Logon policy by the System Administrator.

The System Administrator may use this field to annotate this policy.

This option allows the System Administrator to enable or disable this policy.


Expandable Sections

The remaining policy settings are grouped into the following expandable sections;

  • The purpose of the section "Authentication" is to provide the system administrator with with policy settings that determine when multi-factor authentication is required.

    image-2025-4-3_13-31-44.png



    This setting determines if user authentication is required when logging in;

    • Multi-factor authentication is not required for all users
      This option means that all users will be exempted from 2FA or MFA. This option is typically used to exempt a group of users from 2FA or MFA.

    • Multi-factor authentication is required for users with tokens only
      This option means that users who have a 2FA/MFA token in their account will be enforced to login with 2FA/MFA, while those users who do not have a token 2FA/MFA token will be exempted from 2FA/MFA in the logon process. .
    • Multi-factor authentication is required for all users

      This option means that all users will be enforced to login with 2FA/MFA

      Please note that users in the context of a policy include users in the scope of the policy only, i.e. the policy holder.

    This option allows the administrator to specify if authentication can be skipped on subsequent logon attempts (for the specified length of time).

    If this value is set to zero, then the feature is disabled, and authentication skipping does not take place.


    If authentication skipping is enabled, this setting will determine if the password is kept (and the second factor skipped), or if all factors are skipped;

    • Skip the second factor and keep the password
      The second factor is skipped, but the password is kept.

    • Skip Al factors including the password
      All factors are skipped.

    If this checkbox is ticked, then name guessing will be prevented (the user will not be informed if the username he supplies is known).

    if this checkbox is enabled then a CAPTCHA will be presented during logon (to ensure a human is supplying the authentication factors).

  • The purpose of the section "IP Filter" is to specify when to allow or deny logon based on the users' IP address.



    This setting determines if user authentication is required when logon attempts are made from the specified IP address;

    • required
      If this option is selected, then the user will be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on.

    • not required
       f this option is selected, then the user will not be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on..

    This option is used to store the IP Address range that will be subject to the previous option.

    Single IP address or IP ranges, e.g. 192.168.0.1; 192.168.0.10-192.168.0.20

    • IP with proxy: 1.2.3.4[192.168.0.254],
    • IP range with proxy: (1.2.3.0-1.2.3.255)[192.168.0.254],

    Note: 192.168.0.254 is the proxy server

  • The purpose of the section "User Agent Filter" is to specify when to allow or deny logon based on the agent used by the user agent.

     


    This setting determines if user authentication is required when logon attempts are made the matching agent;

    • required
      If this option is selected, then the user will be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on.

    • not required
       f this option is selected, then the user will not be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on..

    This setting allows you to list the agents that this policy will apply to;;

    The user agent are listed ass a text string (regular expressions are supported).

    e.g. (MacOutlook|Apple-iPhone6C) will match both "MacOutlook" and "Apple-iPhone6C"

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  • The purpose of the section "Geo Location Filter" is to specify when to allow or deny logon based on the geographic location of the user.



    This setting determines if user authentication is required when logon attempts are made from the specified IP address;

    • required
      If this option is selected, then the user will be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on.

    • not required
       f this option is selected, then the user will not be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on..

    After clicking on the icon the following window will open;

    Location details are then supplied that identify the which geographic locations the policy will apply to during logon. (based up IP addresses).


  • The purpose of the section "Geo Location Filter" is to specify when to allow or deny logon based on the geographic location of the user.



    This setting determines if user authentication is required when logon attempts are made from the specified IP address;

    • required
      If this option is selected, then the user will be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on.

    • not required
       f this option is selected, then the user will not be asked to provide multi-factor authentication prior to logging on..

    After clicking on the icon the following window will open;

    Location details are then supplied that identify the which geographic locations the policy will apply to during logon. (based up IP addresses).


  • The purpose of the section "Others" is to provide logon policy settings that don't fit into the other main sections.



    This options determines if passwords can be cached in the browser.

    When set to a non-zero value this policy setting will allow One-Time Passwords to be reused within the specified number of minutes.

    If selected, this checkbox will ensure that the last used login name is remembered on the local client after the user has logged in.

    If selected, this checkbox will ensure that the last used login method is remembered on the local client after the user has logged in.


Install Logon Agent

DualShield Windows Logon Agent is a bridge that connects DualShield Logon Clients and the DualShield Authentication Server. The Windows Logon Agent can be installed on any Windows server machine in the network.

Prerequisites

Before you run the setup wizard, you must have your DualShield Authentication Server installed and operating, and make sure that the computer on which you are going to install the Windows Logon Agent meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements:

  • A Windows  2012 R2, 2016, 2019 or 2022 Server with the latest service pack installed.
  • TCP/IP Networking
  • TCP port 14292 and/or 14294 must be available on the Windows server for use by the DualShield Computer Logon Agent.

Enable Agent Registration

In order to install a DualShield Windows Logon Agent, we need to first enable the Agent Registration option.


For an authentication agent to be able to connect to the DualShield authentication server, the agent must be registered in the DualShield authentication server.

For security purposes, the agent registration function is disabled by default. You need to enable the Agent Auto Registration function in your DualShield authentication server.

From the management console, navigate to "Authentication | Agents", then click  


A new window will now open titled "Auto Registration", ensure the "Enabled" option is selected, then click ;


Tick the "Enabled" option first, then fill in the Starts and Expires date.

You may want to enable the "Check IP" option for extra security. If this option is enabled, then in the "IP Addresses" field you must enter the IP address of the machine where the authentication agent is being installed.

Click on the button, and Auto-Registration will now take place during the installation of the RADIUS server.

Install DualShield Windows Logon Agent 

To install the DualShield Windows Logon Agent, launch the installer SetupDSAgent-xxx.yyyy.exe (where xxx is the version number and yyyy the build number) and go through the following steps:

Step 1: Welcome

Step 2: License Agreement

Step 3: Installation Path

Step 4: Agent Registration

In the FQDN field, enter the correct FQDN of your DualShield server. The default suggestion is based on the host name of the machine and is often not the correct value.

In the Port field, keep the default value 8071, unless you have changed your DualShield Server's operating port numbers.

Step 5: Installing...

Step 6: Connect to an application

At this point, the agent has been successfully registered with the DualShield server., and is waiting for an application to be published on this agent.

In the “Application” field, it displays “Click here to select”.

The next step is to publish a Windows application on this agent.

Step 7: Publish an application

Login to your DualShield Admin Console, select "Authentication | Agents" in the side panel.

You will see that the agent you are installing is listed. 

Open the Agent's context menu.

Select "Applications" to launch the application list

Select the application that you want to publish on this agent, e.g. Windows Logon, then click the "SAVE" button.

The application is now published on the agent.

Step 8: Complete installation

Now, go back the agent installation process where it is displaying "Click here to select” in the Application field:

 

Click "Click here to select", you will see that an application is now available in the list

Select the application, then click the Save icon on the toolbar:

You will then see the following message

It is recommended that you DualShield Windows Logon Agent service.


Finally, click the close icon to close the window

The Windows logon agent has now been successfully installed, registered and linked to an logon application.







Discover Logon Agent

The DualShield Windows Logon Client is designed to be installed and running without the need for configuration by the user. Therefore, the logon client needs a way to automatically discover the logon agents.

The logon client will discover the logon agent by looking up a hostname called “dswagent2” or "dswsslagent2" in your DNS server. For instance, if the domain name of your organisation is “acme.org” then it will look for “dswagent2.acme.org” or "dswsslagent2.acme.org"

Therefore, you need to add these two hostnames to your DNS server.

If you have multiple logon agents installed, then you must add multiple entries of these two hostnames in your DNS server. 


Install Logon Client

To manually install the Windows Logon Client, launch the installer “SetupDSClient-xxxx.exe” on a desktop machine then follow the on-screen instructions:
  1. Welcome
  2. License Agreement
  3. Installing Path
  4. Install Credential Provider
  5. Installing 
  6. Finish

Step 1: Welcome

Step 2: License Agreement

Step 3: Choose Install Location

Step 4: Set the default credential provider

Step 5: Installing

Step 6: Installation Completed


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