Edit general settings on a web application in SharePoint Server
APPLIES TO: 
2013 2016 2019 Subscription Edition 
SharePoint in Microsoft 365
Edit a web application by using Central Administration
Use the procedure described in this section to edit a SharePoint Server web application using the Central Administration.
To edit a web application by using Central Administration
- Verify that you have the following administrative credentials:
- To edit a web application, you must be a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.
- Start SharePoint 2016 Central Administration.
For Windows Server 2008 R2:
Select Start, select SharePoint 2016, and then select SharePoint 2016 Central Administration.
For Windows Server 2012:
On the Start screen, select SharePoint 2016 Central Administration.
If SharePoint 2016 Central Administration is not on the Start screen:
Right-click Computer, select All apps, and then select SharePoint 2016 Central Administration.
For more info about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.
On the Central Administration home page, select Application Management.
On the Application Management page, in the Web Applications section, select Manage web applications.
Select the web application that you want to edit.
In the ribbon, from the WEB APPLICATIONS tab, select General Settings, and do the following:
To change the default time zone for sites that are created on the web application, in the Default Time Zone section, from the Select time zone dropdown, select a time zone.
To change the user settings provider for sites that are created on the web application, in the User Settings Provider section, from the Select User Settings Provider dropdown, select a user settings provider.
To change the default quota template for site collections created on the web application, in the Default Quota Template section, from the Select quota template dropdown, select a quota template.
To disable person name actions and online presence information from being shown on sites on the web application, in the Person Name Actions and Presence Settings section, from Enable additional actions and Online Status for members, select No.
To disable alerts for sites in on the web application, in the Alerts section, from Alerts on this server are, select No. If you don't want to disable alerts completely, but want to limit the number of alerts a user can create, change the settings for Maximum number of alerts that a user can create accordingly.
To disable RSS feeds for sites on the web application, in the RSS Settings section, from Enable RSS feeds, select No.
To disable the MetaWeblog API for the web application, in the Blog API Settings section, from Enable Blog API, select No.
The Metablog API allows SharePoint blog entries to be written, modified, or removed through web services. If Accept user name and password from the API is Yes, then the credentials to manage the blog post are sent in clear text, unless SSL to the web app is configured. If Accept user name and password from the API is set to No, SharePoint authorization for the web app is used.
To change the browser file handling so that the browser automatically executes web content, in the Browser File Handling section, select Permissive.
To disable security validation for sites on the web application, in the Web Page Security Validation section, from Security validation is, select Off. To change the expiration time for a security validation, change the settings for Security validation expires accordingly.
To disable the ability to send users their user name and password by email, in the Send User Name and Password in E-Mail section, from Send user name and password, select No.
To deny pages in the _Layouts folder to reference site master pages for sites on the web application, in the Master Page Settings for Application _Layouts Page, from Application _Layout pages reference site master pages, select No.
To turn off recycle bins on sites in the web application, in the Recycle Bin section, from Recycle Bin Status, select Off. Alternatively, you can change when items in recycle bins should be deleted by changing the settings for Delete items in the Recycle Bin and Second stage Recycle Bin.
To change the maximum allowed size of content uploads to a site in the web application, in the Maximum Upload Size section, change the number in Maximum upload size accordingly.
To disable the collection of web site analytics for sites in the web application, in the Customer Experience Improvement Program section, from Enable Customer Experience Improvement Program, select No.
To enable usage cookies to be used for anonymous users on sites in the web application, in the Usage Cookie section, from Usage Cookie Status, select On.
Important
Local legal restrictions might apply when you enable usage cookies on sites that have anonymous users.
- To save your changes to this web application, select OK.