When you use the basic and trial licenses, the {es} {security-features} are disabled by default. To enable them: . Stop {kib}. The method for starting and stopping {kib} varies depending on how you installed it. For example, if you installed {kib} from an archive distribution (`.tar.gz` or `.zip`), stop it by entering `Ctrl-C` on the command line. See {kibana-ref}/start-stop.html[Starting and stopping {kib}]. . Stop {es}. For example, if you installed {es} from an archive distribution, enter `Ctrl-C` on the command line. See {ref}/stopping-elasticsearch.html[Stopping {es}]. . Add the `xpack.security.enabled` setting to the `ES_PATH_CONF/elasticsearch.yml` file. + -- TIP: The `ES_PATH_CONF` environment variable contains the path for the {es} configuration files. If you installed {es} using archive distributions (`zip` or `tar.gz`), it defaults to `ES_HOME/config`. If you used package distributions (Debian or RPM), it defaults to `/etc/elasticsearch`. For more information, see {ref}/settings.html[Configuring {es}]. For example, add the following setting: [source,yaml] ---- xpack.security.enabled: true ---- TIP: If you have a basic or trial license, the default value for this setting is `false`. If you have a gold or higher license, the default value is `true`. Therefore, it is a good idea to explicitly add this setting to avoid confusion about whether {security-features} are enabled. --