Desktop Group Policy not applying to XP

[Stuart]

Hi. I am trying to make some adjustments to group policy on a small network
with Win 2000 Servers and XP Pro workstations. The Windows 2000 servers
have been running for some time originally with 2000 workstations. The
workstations are being replaced with XP Pro workstations which are fresh
installs. I've setup some policies basic policies to distribute some
software and apply some general security settings and everything seems to be
working as expected.

But what I'm struggling to get control of is the desktop and start menu
items. I want to change the default desktop for the users so that by
default it includes My Computer, Documents, Network places etc. I tried
setting User Config\Administrative Templates\Desktop\Remove My Computer icon
on the desktop to Disabled but the icons still don't appear.

Can anyone tell me how I can achieve the following :

- Set Appearance/Theme to Win XP Style (is it possible to specify blue,
green, silver etc ?)
- Display My Comp, My Docs, Network Places etc on the desktop
- Unlock and make the task bar visible, possibly adjust the default icons
which are on it ?
- Remove Windows Catalogue from the top of the start menu for all users
- Clear the Example Most Used programs listed in the start menu.
[All of the above to apply to all domain users]

Thanks for any help,
Stuart.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

The only way I have found to set that stuff is by manually setting the way I
want, then logging on with a different account (that is a member of the
Local Administrators group) and copying the just configured user profile to
the Default User profile (Start, right click My Computer, select Properties,
select Advanced tab, click Settings in the User Profile frame).

The Start Menu in particular is stored in a complicated set of registry
entries. I've tried copying those to the Default User's hive, but that
didn't work very well. I don't know of any Group Policy settings for
controlling the Start Menu configuration.

The "Remove My Computer" and other related settings merely remove those
items if they are already on the desktop; they won't force them to apper if
the're not there already.

If anyone has a better solution, I'm all ears because we struggled with this
during a recent deployment of new computers.

 

[Stuart]

Hi Bruce. That's the way I decided to go.

Thanks,
Stuart.

The only way I have found to set that stuff is by manually setting the way
I want, then logging on with a different account (that is a member of the
Local Administrators group) and copying the just configured user profile
to the Default User profile (Start, right click My Computer, select
Properties, select Advanced tab, click Settings in the User Profile
frame).

The Start Menu in particular is stored in a complicated set of registry
entries. I've tried copying those to the Default User's hive, but that
didn't work very well. I don't know of any Group Policy settings for
controlling the Start Menu configuration.

The "Remove My Computer" and other related settings merely remove those
items if they are already on the desktop; they won't force them to apper
if the're not there already.

If anyone has a better solution, I'm all ears because we struggled with
this during a recent deployment of new computers.
--
Bruce Sanderson MVP

It's perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

Hi. I am trying to make some adjustments to group policy on a small
network with Win 2000 Servers and XP Pro workstations. The Windows 2000
servers have been running for some time originally with 2000
workstations. The workstations are being replaced with XP Pro
workstations which are fresh installs. I've setup some policies basic
policies to distribute some software and apply some general security
settings and everything seems to be working as expected.

But what I'm struggling to get control of is the desktop and start
menu items. I want to change the default desktop for the users so that
by default it includes My Computer, Documents, Network places etc. I
tried setting User Config\Administrative Templates\Desktop\Remove My
Computer icon on the desktop to Disabled but the icons still don't
appear.

Can anyone tell me how I can achieve the following :

- Set Appearance/Theme to Win XP Style (is it possible to specify blue,
green, silver etc ?)
- Display My Comp, My Docs, Network Places etc on the desktop
- Unlock and make the task bar visible, possibly adjust the default icons
which are on it ?
- Remove Windows Catalogue from the top of the start menu for all users
- Clear the Example Most Used programs listed in the start menu.
[All of the above to apply to all domain users]

Thanks for any help,
Stuart.