Executive Summary:
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 offers many features, including the ability to centrally control its settings. One IT professional centrally controlled the RSS settings in Internet Explorer 7.0 by using Vista's Administrative Template files and Group Policy. Here are the steps he took.
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One of my clients recently upgraded
the browsers on all its workstations
from Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)
6.0 to IE 7.0. One reason why the client
decided to perform the upgrade
was because IE 7.0 lets you centrally
control settings. Specifically, the client
was interested in the centralized
control of IE’s RSS feature, so the
client asked me to implement a solution
to provide this control.
After doing some research, I
decided to install Windows Vista’s
Administrative Template files on
the existing domain controller (DC)
running Windows Server 2003 Active
Directory (AD) and administer the
RSS settings through Group Policy.
Vista’s Administrative Template differs
from its predecessors’ Administrative
Template. Vista replaces the
.adm file with a pair of files: an XMLbased
.admx file and a language-specific
.adml file. You store these files in
what is called a central store. Here’s
how I implemented the solution:
1. I set up a central store on
the existing DC by creating a new
%systemroot%\sysvol\domain\policies PolicyDefinitions folder, where
domain is the domain’s name. Under
the newly created folder, I created a
subfolder named %systemroot%\sysvol domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions en-US.
2. I copied InetRes.admx from the
%systemroot%\PolicyDefinitions InetRes.admx folder on my Vista
system to the %systemroot%\sysvol domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions
folder on the DC. This Administrative
Template, which is one of many, is
specifically for IE 7.0 settings.
3. I copied the %systemroot% PolicyDefinitions\en-US\InetRes
.adml file from my Vista system to the
%systemroot%\sysvol\domain policies\PolicyDefinitions\en-US
folder on the DC.
4. I ran Group Policy Management
Console (GPMC) from my Vista
workstation and created a new policy
that contained the RSS settings the
client wanted.
5. Using the Administrative
Template, I applied the policy to the
client’s workstations.
If you want to learn more about
Vista’s Administrative Template
files, check out the Microsoft
articles “Dig into New Group
Policy Templates in Windows
Vista” (www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/02/Templates/default.aspx) and
“New Format and Functionality
of Administrative Template Files
(ADMX)” (technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/ea452d9f-2aca-46ef-9df4-4a5abea147371033.mspx?mfr=true).