Problems with XP SP2 settings using Win2k GPO

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have been using GP in Win2k AD for around three years to control our XP
Pro clients. After upgrading the first batch of XP clients to SP2 I followed
Microsoft's guidelines for updating the ADM files on the domain - running
GPMC on a freshly installed XP SP2 client. This worked fine and I configured
all of the relevant settings in group policy.

Today I needed to change one of theose settings and ran GPMC on my XP SP2
client. When selecting the 'settings' tab of the appropriate policy I can
see the items I need to change, however when I click 'edit' I cannot see them
listed. What I see is - if I remember correctly - the pre-SP2 settings.

I am particularly interested in some of the Windows Firewall settings, that
show up on the 'settings' tab of GPMC as being in \Computer
Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections\.
However, when I click 'edit' all I can see in \Computer
Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\ are 'Offline Files' and
'Network and Dial-up Connections'.

I have tried running GPMC on a freshly installed XP SP2 computer to see if
that will refresh the ADM files on the domain, but it made no difference. I
have also tried following some other advice from this group and manually
copying the ADM files from an XP SP2 machine's windows\inf folder to all
three DC's WINNT\inf folder - again no joy.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
Tim.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I have tried running GPMC on a freshly installed XP SP2 computer to see if
that will refresh the ADM files on the domain, but it made no difference. I
have also tried following some other advice from this group and manually
copying the ADM files from an XP SP2 machine's windows\inf folder to all
three DC's WINNT\inf folder - again no joy.

Have you tried to change (add and overwrite) the adms used in this
particular GPO? Maybe that helps.

Bye
Norbert

 

[Guest]

Hello Norbert,

I've found a work around now which is basically to either rebuild the polcy
from scratch or to add another policy with just the items you need. However,
this isn't a satisfactory solution, as you need to do this every time you
make modifications. Let's hope MS are working on a proper solution.

Thanks,
Tim.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

Here's something to try:
1.on a Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2003 SP1 computer
2. in GPMC, right click the GPO, select Edit
3. in the Group Policy Object Editor, under Computer Configuration, right
click Administrative Templates, select Add/Remove Templates
4. select System, click Remove
5. click Add
6. navigate to the Windows\inf folder, select system.adm, click Open
7. close the Add/Remove Templates window

DId that help?

The system.adm file that has the Windows Firewall settings in it should have
the character string WF_CATEGORY in it.

 

[lforbes]

Hello all,

I have been using GP in Win2k AD for around three years to
control our XP
Pro clients. After upgrading the first batch of XP clients to
SP2 I followed
Microsoft's guidelines for updating the ADM files on the
domain - running
GPMC on a freshly installed XP SP2 client. This worked fine
and I configured
all of the relevant settings in group policy.

Today I needed to change one of theose settings and ran GPMC
on my XP SP2
client. When selecting the 'settings' tab of the appropriate
policy I can
see the items I need to change, however when I click 'edit' I
cannot see them
listed. What I see is - if I remember correctly - the pre-SP2
settings.

I am particularly interested in some of the Windows Firewall
settings, that
show up on the 'settings' tab of GPMC as being in Computer
ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesNetworkNetwork
Connections.
However, when I click 'edit' all I can see in Computer
ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesNetwork are 'Offline
Files' and
'Network and Dial-up Connections'.

I have tried running GPMC on a freshly installed XP SP2
computer to see if
that will refresh the ADM files on the domain, but it made no
difference. I
have also tried following some other advice from this group
and manually
copying the ADM files from an XP SP2 machine's windowsinf
folder to all
three DC's WINNTinf folder - again no joy.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
Tim.

Hi,

Microsoft’s way to update the templates is annoyingly useless. It
doesn’t work most of the time and only updates the sysvol and not
the servers themselves.

Go to a Machine running Windows XP SP2. Go to the C:windowsinf
directory. Copy all the .adm files to any location you can access from
the DC.

Logon to each DC and copy the above ADM’s to the C:Winntinf
directories on ALL DC’s and any machines running adminpak.msi. This
will update all your adm’s to the most recent.

Remember that ADM files are Not Group Policies. The Group Policies are
set if you set them regardless of the adm’s that you may physically
see.

Eg. I modify my system.adm for a few custom settings. On a SP update,
it overwrote my custom system.adm with the Windows one. However, it
didn’t actually delete the group policy that the custom system.adm
actually had. When I found my custom adm and copied it back, the
policy was still there and set.

Cheers,

Lara