Windows Explorer NoNetCrawling

[Bruce Sanderson]

I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when it has
a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a Custom
ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but rather "tatoo"
the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to create a
custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to set to accomplish
this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network folders
and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU time on our
Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already have hotfix
described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom ADM and
a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but Windows Explorer is
stil using excessive CPU time when users have a check mark in "Automatically
search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few users
that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot of CPU time.
This improved the perceived performance for those users and ameliorated the
heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off permanently for all users.

 

[Mark Renoden [MSFT]]

Hi Bruce

You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by following:

323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639

By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Darren Mar-Elia]

Mark-
That KB article is surprising to me. It seems to say that any registry key
under, for example,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\, can be
"moved" to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ and
the underlying application will properly find and respect it as a policy. Is
that really true across the board? I am quite surprised if it so.

--
Darren Mar-Elia
MS-MVP-Windows Server--Group Policy
Check out http://www.gpoguy.com -- The Windows Group Policy Information Hub:
FAQs, Whitepapers and Utilities for all things Group Policy-related

Hi Bruce

You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by following:

323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639

By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when it
has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a
Custom ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but rather
"tatoo" the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to
create a custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to set
to accomplish this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network folders
and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU time on our
Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already have hotfix
described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom ADM
and a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but Windows
Explorer is stil using excessive CPU time when users have a check mark in
"Automatically search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few
users that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot of
CPU time. This improved the perceived performance for those users and
ameliorated the heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off
permanently for all users.

 

[Mark Renoden [MSFT]]

Hi Darren

My experience is that Windows honours these policies.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Mark-
That KB article is surprising to me. It seems to say that any registry key
under, for example,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\, can be
"moved" to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ and
the underlying application will properly find and respect it as a policy.
Is that really true across the board? I am quite surprised if it so.

--
Darren Mar-Elia
MS-MVP-Windows Server--Group Policy
Check out http://www.gpoguy.com -- The Windows Group Policy Information
Hub:
FAQs, Whitepapers and Utilities for all things Group Policy-related

Hi Bruce

You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by following:

323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639

By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when it
has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a
Custom ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but
rather "tatoo" the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to
create a custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to set
to accomplish this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network
folders and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU
time on our Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already
have hotfix described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom ADM
and a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but Windows
Explorer is stil using excessive CPU time when users have a check mark
in "Automatically search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few
users that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot of
CPU time. This improved the perceived performance for those users and
ameliorated the heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off
permanently for all users.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

OK. I'll try out the Policy branch via Custom ADM and report back - might
be a while!

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP

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

Hi Darren

My experience is that Windows honours these policies.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Mark-
That KB article is surprising to me. It seems to say that any registry
key under, for example,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\, can be
"moved" to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
and the underlying application will properly find and respect it as a
policy. Is that really true across the board? I am quite surprised if it
so.

--
Darren Mar-Elia
MS-MVP-Windows Server--Group Policy
Check out http://www.gpoguy.com -- The Windows Group Policy Information
Hub:
FAQs, Whitepapers and Utilities for all things Group Policy-related

Hi Bruce

You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by
following:

323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639

By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to
email me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.


I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when it
has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a
Custom ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but
rather "tatoo" the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to
create a custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to set
to accomplish this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network
folders and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU
time on our Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already
have hotfix described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom
ADM and a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but
Windows Explorer is stil using excessive CPU time when users have a
check mark in "Automatically search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few
users that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot
of CPU time. This improved the perceived performance for those users
and ameliorated the heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off
permanently for all users.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

Mark: thanks for your information. Looks like this works - here's some
details.

I created the custom ADM included at the end of this note and in a GPO,
"Enabled" the policy
Computer Configuration,
Administrative Templates,
Windows Components,
Windows Explorer,
Disable Automatically search for network folders and printers

On a computer that this GPO applies to, the registry entry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\NoNetCrawling
is set to 1.

In Windows Explorer,
Explorer, Tools, Folder Options, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers
does not appear.

I assume this is good - the policy is disabling the automatic search feature
and users can not turn it on.

I'm not sure exactly how to construct a test scenario to verify that this is
having the desired affect, but I expect I will see the result of it on the
Terminal Servers (Windows Explorer no longer uses excess CPU time) when they
get loaded up.

Here's the custom ADM that appears to work

CLASS MACHINE ;This modifies the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE portion of the registry

CATEGORY !!WindowsComponents
CATEGORY !!WindowsExplorer
KEYNAME !!KeyMachinePoliciesExplorer
; allows turning on or off Explorer, Tools, Folder Options, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers
POLICY !!PNoNetCrawling
EXPLAIN !!ENoNetCrawling
VALUENAME !!VNoNetCrawling
VALUEON NUMERIC 1
VALUEOFF NUMERIC 0
END POLICY

END CATEGORY
END CATEGORY

[strings]
WindowsComponents="Windows Components"
WindowsExplorer="Windows Explorer"
KeyMachinePoliciesExplorer="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer"

PNoNetCrawling="Disable Automatically search for network folders and
printers"

ENoNetCrawling="This policy controls whether Windows Explorer (when Windows
Explorer window is open) will periodically search the network for new shared
folders and printers.\n\nIf this policy is Enabled, Windows Explorer, Tools,
Folder Options, View, "Automatically search for network folders and
printers" is not present and Windows Explorer behaves as there is no check
mark (the automatic searching feature is Off).\n\nIf this policy is
Disabled, Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Options, View, "Automatically
search for network folders and printers" does not display and Windows
Explorer behaves as if the check mark is present (the automatic searching
feature is On).\n\nIf this policy is Not Configured, the Windows Explorer,
Tools, Folder Options, View, "Automatically search for network folders and
printers" is displayed and a user can add or remove the check mark to turn
this feature on or off.

VNoNetCrawling="NoNetCrawling"

--

Bruce Sanderson MVP Printing

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

Hi Bruce
You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by following:
323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639
By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.
Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when it
has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a
Custom ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but
rather "tatoo" the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to
create a custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to set
to accomplish this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network
folders and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU
time on our Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already
have hotfix described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom
ADM and a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but
Windows Explorer is stil using excessive CPU time when users have a
check mark in "Automatically search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few
users that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot
of CPU time. This improved the perceived performance for those users
and ameliorated the heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off
permanently for all users.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

Mark: perhaps you could shed some light on my question below.

The section titled "True Policies vs. Preferences" in the white paper at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...er2003/technologies/management/gp/admtgp.mspx

says that the "The Preferred Location" for policy settings is
HKLM\Software\Policies.

I changed the custom ADM to use the registry location
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\NoNetCrawling
but this did not appear to work - "Automatically search for network folders
and printers" still showed in Windows Explorer, Explorer, Tools, Folder
Options, View.

Is this because:

1. I don't have the key hierarchy in HKLM\Software\Policies\ correct in the
ADM?
or
2. Windows Explorer does not obey policy settings in this "Preferred"
location?

I tested this on a Windows XP SP2 computer as well as Windows 2003 Server
with the same result.

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP Printing

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

Hi Darren

My experience is that Windows honours these policies.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Mark-
That KB article is surprising to me. It seems to say that any registry
key under, for example,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\, can be
"moved" to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
and the underlying application will properly find and respect it as a
policy. Is that really true across the board? I am quite surprised if it
so.

--
Darren Mar-Elia
MS-MVP-Windows Server--Group Policy
Check out http://www.gpoguy.com -- The Windows Group Policy Information
Hub:
FAQs, Whitepapers and Utilities for all things Group Policy-related

Hi Bruce

You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by
following:

323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639

By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to
email me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.


I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when it
has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a
Custom ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but
rather "tatoo" the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to
create a custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to set
to accomplish this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network
folders and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU
time on our Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already
have hotfix described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom
ADM and a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but
Windows Explorer is stil using excessive CPU time when users have a
check mark in "Automatically search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few
users that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot
of CPU time. This improved the perceived performance for those users
and ameliorated the heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off
permanently for all users.

 

[Mark Renoden [MSFT]]

Hi Bruce

I've actually never seen that before. I wasn't aware that one was preferred
over the other. The way I've rationalised it to myself in the past is if
the registry value normally lives under

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

then I put it in

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

when I build the .adm. Seems to work

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Mark: perhaps you could shed some light on my question below.

The section titled "True Policies vs. Preferences" in the white paper at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...er2003/technologies/management/gp/admtgp.mspx

says that the "The Preferred Location" for policy settings is
HKLM\Software\Policies.

I changed the custom ADM to use the registry location
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\NoNetCrawling
but this did not appear to work - "Automatically search for network
folders
and printers" still showed in Windows Explorer, Explorer, Tools, Folder
Options, View.

Is this because:

1. I don't have the key hierarchy in HKLM\Software\Policies\ correct in
the
ADM?
or
2. Windows Explorer does not obey policy settings in this "Preferred"
location?

I tested this on a Windows XP SP2 computer as well as Windows 2003 Server
with the same result.

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP Printing

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

Hi Darren

My experience is that Windows honours these policies.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to email
me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

message

Mark-
That KB article is surprising to me. It seems to say that any registry
key under, for example,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\, can be
"moved" to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
and the underlying application will properly find and respect it as a
policy. Is that really true across the board? I am quite surprised if it
so.

--
Darren Mar-Elia
MS-MVP-Windows Server--Group Policy
Check out http://www.gpoguy.com -- The Windows Group Policy Information
Hub:
FAQs, Whitepapers and Utilities for all things Group Policy-related



Hi Bruce

You can create a custom .ADM that won't tattoo the registry by
following:

323639 HOW TO: Create Custom Administrative Templates in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323639

By utilising the policies branch in the registry, you avoid persistent
settings.

Kind regards
--
Mark Renoden [MSFT]
Windows Platform Support Team
Email: (e-mail address removed)

Please note you'll need to strip ".online" from my email address to
email me; I'll post a response back to the group.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.


I've looked in the spreadsheet from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-DA15-438D-8E48-45915CD2BC14&displaylang=en,
but can't find a Policy setting that is equivalent to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling
appears to relate to the Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Optons, View,
Automatically search for network folders and printers.

When this item in View has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is zero; when
it
has a check mark, NoNetCrawling is 1.

Now, I know I can set NoNetCrawling in a Logon Script or by using a
Custom ADM template, but these would not establish a "Policy", but
rather "tatoo" the user's registry.

Is there a way to set NoNetCrawling as a "Policy"? I'm prepared to
create a custom ADM, but I'm not sure what Policy registry entry to
set
to accomplish this.

When users have a check mark in "Automatically search for network
folders and printers", Windows Explorer appears to use excessive CPU
time on our Windows 2003 Terminal Servers. Note that I have already
have hotfix described in KB article 831129 installed and have set
NoRemoteRecursiveEvents and NoRemoteChangeNotify to 1 using a Custom
ADM and a Group Policy Object. These did make a difference, but
Windows Explorer is stil using excessive CPU time when users have a
check mark in "Automatically search for network folders and printers".

I've turned this off via the Tools, Folder Options, View gui for a few
users that Task Manager showed their explorer.exe process using a lot
of CPU time. This improved the perceived performance for those users
and ameliorated the heavy CPU load, so now I'd like to turn this off
permanently for all users.

 

[adipose]

I know this thread is a 1000 years old, but I couldn't help noticing that something was overlooked. In this case, the value was not simply moved to the same folder with "policies" inserted in the appropriate place. In fact, the "Advanced" subkey was eliminated in the process, as well. Which means, unfortunately, that just inserting "policies" after "CurrentVersion" is not always enough. The policy location is custom.

Policy:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\NoNetCrawling

User setting:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\NoNetCrawling

-Dan