Section 12: Creating and Deploying Administrative Templates Introducing Administrative Templates Legacy ADM Templates Using the New ADMX Templates Converting and Creating Custom ADMX Templates Using the ADMX Central Store Managing Windows Environments with Group Policy

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Section Objectives After completing this section, you will be able to: Describe the benefits of using ADM templates List some of the ADM templates that are included in each version of Windows List tips that you can use to write your own custom ADM templates Describe the advantages of using the new ADMX file format Identify which tool converts ADM templates to ADMX templates and also creates new ADMX templates Define ADMX Central Store 12-2

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Introducing Administrative Templates 12-3 Administrative Templates Nodes Benefits of Using Administrative Templates Registry Structure Used by Administrative Templates

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Administrative Templates Nodes Administrative Templates are collections of settings for the computer or user environment On Windows XP and Server 2003 systems the Administrative Templates are populated from ADM files. On Windows Vista and later systems, the settings are loaded from ADMX files.

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Benefits of Using Administrative Templates Administrative Templates offer benefits for: Application users Operating system users Software developers 12-5

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Registry Structure Used by Administrative Templates Machine keys: HKLM\Software\Policies HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies User keys: HKCU\Software\Policies HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies 12-6

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Legacy ADM Templates The default templates are: Conf.adm Inetres.adm System.adm 12-8

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Custom ADM Templates Creating Your Own ADM Templates Loading Additional ADM Templates Using the Policy Template Editor

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Creating Your Own ADM Templates When you create a custom template setting, it will show up as a GUI dialog box for data entry

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Loading Additional ADM Templates Microsoft and other vendors provide additional Administrative Templates to control other software and features

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Using the Policy Template Editor Instead of editing a template file by hand, you can use the Policy Template Editor. This tool provides a user-friendly interface for creating new template settings

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Using the New ADMX Templates The new Administrative Templates have an ADMX extension. XML tags in the file define the GPO structure. Old ADM files can be converted to ADMX

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. ADM vs. ADMX Format ADM FilesADMX Files Are copied into the structure of each GPO Language independent Not easily customized Are stored separately from the GPO structure Use an extensible XML architecture 12-19

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Converting and Creating Custom ADMX Templates Full Armor ADMX Migrator Convert existing ADM files Create custom ADMX files 12-20

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Using the ADMX Central Store Stores ADMX and ADML files Must be created manually in: C:\windows\sysvol\sysvol\hq.local\policies\PolicyDefinitions Copy all of the default and custom ADMX/ADML files to the central PolicyDefinitions folder Is detected when editing policies from Windows Vista or later New templates are imported simply by copying ADMX and ADML files to the Central Store 12-21

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Summary The benefits of using ADM templates are: Application users: Individual application settings can be customized centrally. Operating system users: Operating system settings can be configured or restricted from a central location. Software developers: The ADM file methodology gives you a structured, predefined way of giving your customer the ability to manage software settings centrally, through a console that they are already using to manage the Active Directory environment

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Summary (cont.) Many varieties of standard templates are included with each version of Windows. The standard templates that are common to Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 are: System.adm Inetres.adm Conf.adm Wuau.adm The standard templates that are used with Poledit are: Common.adm Winnt.adm Windows.adm 12-23

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Summary (cont.) Some of the Office ADM templates include: Access10.adm Excel10.adm Outlk10.adm Word10.adm 12-23

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Summary (cont.) Use the following tips to write your custom ADM templates: Use the semicolon character (;) at the start of a line to indicate a comment. To prevent Windows NT systems from accidentally loading your Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, or Windows XP ADM files, include a section beginning with #if version <= 2 and ending with #endif that merely displays explanatory text advising the administrator that this policy file requires Windows 2000 (or another operating system). Version 2 signifies the Windows NT policy editor, version 3 signifies the Windows 2000 console, and version 4 signifies the Windows XP console

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Summary (cont.) The advantages of using the new ADMX file format are: The file structure allows for language independence. ADMX settings are stored separately from the GPO. ADMX files are based upon an XML file structure that is a more widely adopted standard and allows for extensibility. The ADMX Migrator tool converts ADM templates to ADMX templates and also creates new ADMX templates. The ADMX Central Store is where all the administrative consoles will automatically load the available ADMX templates. You have to manually create the ADMX Central Store /24

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Knowledge Check 1.What is the ADMX Central Store? The ADMX Central Store is where all the administrative consoles will automatically load the available ADMX templates. 2.Which tool is used to convert ADM templates to ADMX templates? a.ADMX Template Editor b.ADMX Migrator tool c.Policy Template Editor d.Group Policy Migrator tool 12-24

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Knowledge Check (cont.) 3.What are the advantages of using the new ADMX file format? The file structure allows for language independence. ADMX settings are stored separately from the GPO. ADMX files are based upon an XML file structure that is a more widely adopted standard and allows for extensibility

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Knowledge Check (cont.) 4.List the tips that you should use to write your custom ADM templates. Use the semicolon character (;) at the start of a line to indicate a comment. Include a section beginning with #if version <= 2 and ending with #endif that merely displays explanatory text advising the administrator that this policy file requires Windows 2000 (or another operating system)

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Knowledge Check (cont.) 5.Which ADM templates are included in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003? (Choose all that apply.) a.System.adm b.Conf.adm c.Inetres.adm d.Pub10.adm 12-24

© 2013 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Knowledge Check (cont.) 6.What are the benefits of using ADM templates? Application users: Individual application settings can be customized centrally. Operating system users: Operating system settings can be configured or restricted from a central location. Software developers: The ADM file methodology gives you a structured, predefined way of giving your customer the ability to manage software settings centrally, through a console that they are already using to manage the Active Directory environment