Backup system settings

  • Thread starter Thread starter Falk Sticken
  • Start date Start date
| "Falk Sticken" <[email protected]>
| wrote in message | hi, is there any way to backup/restore the group policy settings?
| bye, Falk S.

If your computer is a member of a corporate network I suggest that you
discuss this issue with your Systems Administrator. If this is your home
computer, a Windows XP Professional stand-alone computer that you
administer, then...

If by writing "group policy settings" you mean the Local Computer Polices
that can be viewed by clicking Start, clicking Run, typing the following
command and clicking OK: gpedit.msc. And then expanding the
Administrative Templates nodes. Then yes, the policy files (registry.pol)
are located in the following directories and can be backed up and restored:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\GroupPolicy\Machine\Registry.pol

C:\WINDOWS\system32\GroupPolicy\User\Registry.pol

BTW, if you have Microsoft Word, the backed up Registry.pol files can
be viewed with it so you can easily see the registry keys that the policies
create. For example, as follows is a part of my Machine\Registry.pol
when viewed with Word:

[Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
[Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
;NoDriveTypeAutoRun
;NoDriveTypeAutoRun
][Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
][Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
;VerboseStatus
;VerboseStatus

And if you don't have Microsoft Word you can use Notepad, but it is harder
to read the registry keys.

To view your registry.pol files with Word:

- Configure Word to "always show the File Conversion dialog box when
you open a text file". For more information search Microsoft Word help
for the words in double-quotes.

- Double-click the backed up Registry.pol file and click the radio
button "Select the program from a list". Click OK and choose
Microsoft Word for Windows from the list. Make certain that the
Always use this program to open these files check box is not
selected, then click OK.

- When Word opens select the option to "Recover text from Any File".

And if you have any more question about Group Policy I suggest that
you post them in the newsgroup: Windows: Group Policy

The following page has links you can click to access the newsgroup
with your Web browser, or with a Network News Transfer Protocol
(NNTP)-based newsreader such as Outlook Express.

Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Management Technologies Newsgroups
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/newsgroups/management/default.mspx

And here are some links to some documentation about Registry-Based
Group Policy:

Microsoft Windows XP - Resources about Group Policy and
related technologies
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/gpe_resources.mspx

From the aforementioned page I recommend reading at least the Group Policy white paper and Implementing Registry-Based Group Policy/

Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows Server 2003
(PolicySettings.xls)
http://microsoft.com/downloads/deta...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en

I highly recommend downloading PolicySettings.xls. It is a detailed
spreadsheet that lists the full set of Group Policy settings described
in Administrative Template (.adm) files. Fields included in the
spreadsheet are: *.adm File, Computer/User Node, Policy Path,
Full Policy Name, Supported on, Help/Explain Text, Registry Settings.
 
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