Remove the Recycle Bin Via Group Policy
KB ID 0000463 Problem You might ask “why would I want to do this?” But if your users do not have access to local drives, then nothing’s going to get put in the recycle bin anyway, so it’s one less thing they can fiddle with. Solution 1. On your domain controller , Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management Console > Either create a new policy and link it to your targeted USERS or edit an...
Disable “Ease of access” Settings from the Windows Logon Screen via GPO
KB ID 0000462 Problem Did a migration of a school the other week, afterwards it seems the “little darlings” had discovered that they could (from the logon screen) access the “Ease of access” settings and enable “High Contrast”, which is obviously hilarious, but annoying for their teachers. Ease of Access, is designed as part of the accessibility options, and as such has no GPO settings, (I’m...
Change the default Shutdown / Log Off Option via GPO
KB ID 0000465 Problem Out of the box, the default power option presented to your users is shutdown. People with multiple users on their machines, may prefer the log off option to be the default. Note: You can also set the default option to: Shutdown Sleep Log off Lock Restart Switch User (Unless blocked by other policy then it will revert to shutdown). Hibernate Solution 1. On your domain controller , Start > Administrative...
Add a URL to Clients “Trusted Sites” with Group Policy
KB ID 0000146 Problem You want to have a URL added to everyone’s “Trusted Sites” list, and to avoid visiting each machine you want to use Group Policy, Or users don’t have the rights to do this themselves and you want to add one for them, i.e. the URL of your corporate CRM System. Solution The Group Policy you need to edit is, Computer Configuration > Policies (This level is on Server 2008 only) >...
Enable RDP via Group Policy
KB ID 0000043 Problem Rather than enabling on an ad-hoc basis, you want to turn on RDP for multiple machines via Group Policy. Solution Group Policy Location To simply enable RDP, change the following policy; Computer Configuration > Admin Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Connections Locate and change the “Allow users to connect remotely using Remote Desktop...
Windows Disable UAC Thorough Group Policy
KB ID 0000041 Problem UAC (User Account Control) – while a good thing, sometimes causes more annoyances than solves problems, to turn it of through group policy do the following. Solution This Policy is a Computer based policy and needs to be applied to Computers NOT Users. Disable UAC On Windows Server 2008 / 2008 R2 Domain With Group Policy 1. On a domain controller or a client running the remote administration tools >...
Disable High Contrast with Group PolicyDisable Accessibility Options with Group Policy
KB ID 0000472 Problem A few weeks back I wrote about a client who was having problems with kids at his school launching the ease of access button from the login screen. And how I disabled the ease of access button. High Contrast After a site visit it seems that the “little darlings” had now worked out that by pressing “Alt+Shift+Print Screen” they could turn on high contrast. And this, which is obviously...
Enable The “Remote Registry Service” through Group Policy
KB ID 0000488 Problem I was rolling out Trend Worry Free Business Security this week, and to send out the client software all the client machines needed the remote registry service enabled. That’s great but it’s set to manual startup be default. As I didn’t want to visit each machine I wanted to do this through group policy. Solution 1. On a domain controller, Start > administrative tools > Group Policy Editor...
Deploying Printers with Group Policy Preferences
KB ID 0000492 Problem I’ve touched on this briefly in KB0000389, I suggest you read through that first so you understand what the requirements are to deploy a GPP instead of the GPO’s you are probably used to. Solution 1. First thing to do is install the printer that needs deploying on a print server. Make sure if your clients are NOT x64 bit that you also add the x86 drivers for your clients to use. How to tell if a...
Delete Local ‘Cached’ Copies of User Profiles with Group Policy
KB ID 0000602 Problem I have a client who manages the network at a school. They wanted to stop the profiles of their users being cached, in either the c:documents and settings or c:users folders (depending on the version of Windows and profile the users were using). Solution 1. Log into a domain controller or a machine running the RSAT tools, Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management > Either edit an existing...