Category: Active Directory

Group Policy Manager allows to re-deploy applications globally, but doesn’t provide ability to do it for individual machines. This may be required if an application got corrupted, or somebody removed it using Add/Remove Programs on a client PC. That’s right, removing program locally via Control Panel will not force re-installation via group policy.

Download Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 from Microsoft Download Centre. Choose 32 or 64 bit version depending on you Operating System Install downloaded file (KB958830). It installs as a Windows Update

All new domain users are automatically added to the “Domain Users” group. This group is also set as the primary group. If for any reason you need to remove an account from “Domain Users”, you must first assign another primary group. Active directory simply won’t allow you to remove user from its primary group:

If you use Group Policy to redirect one of the Windows 7 Libraries to a network location, your clients may get a message “some features are unavailable due to unsupported libraries locations. Click here to find more…” Message appears when you open any folder in the affected library.This would happen if following is true: A…

Domain users on Windows 7 machines are normally prompted for administrator password when installing network print drivers. If you trust drivers on your own server and don’t want to receive support calls every time user installs a network printer you can disable this behaviour using Group Policy: Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates >…

Windows XP workstations during GPO software installation normally displays “Installing managed software [Software-Name]“ Windows 7, however, by default only shows “Please Wait“I prefer more informative Windows XP approach. Users are less likely to complain about slow boot times when they see that computer is actually doing something, e.g. installing software. It also helps troubleshooting problems…

Background: Windows Active Directory Domain Windows Server 2003R2 and Server 2008R2 Domain ControllersWindows XP SP3 and Windows 7 SP1 workstations Problem: Windows 7 workstations don’t process group policy software installation at all, or process intermittently. This doesn’t affect Windows XP machines. Following Events are recorded Windows System Logs: Event ID: 5719Level: ErrorSource: NetLogonDescription:This computer was…

Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager Select Features. Then click on Add Features Select Group Policy Management > Next > Install

Download and extract Windows Desktop Search 4.0 administrative template file search.adm Open Group Policy Management Console > Right click on Group Policy Objects >  New > Enter name and click OK Right click on your new GPO > Edit Right click on Administrative Templates in Computer configuration > Add/Remove Templates > Add > select extracted…

This example shows how to configure Exchange Outlook Anywhere settings in Group Policy, but the same method can be used to manage pretty much any part of Outlook via Group Policy. Steps 1 to 4 need to be completed only once. Download and extract Outlook 2010 Group Policy administrative template files.outlk14.adm is the main Microsoft…

Background: DELL Optiplex 780 workstation  with new Windows XP SP3 installation Windows Small Business 2008 domain Problem: After adding the computer to the SBS domain I noticed that group policy software deployment is not processed.Quick check in the event logs revealed following errors on startup:Event ID: 5719Type: ErrorSource: NETLOGONDescription:No Domain Controller is available for domain…

By default Adobe Flash Player periodically checks for new versions and gives users option to update. This may be not a desirable behaviour if flash player is deployed centrally. This also may cause a problem if users do not have local administrator rights. Installation not only fails but often breaks existing installation. To disable auto…