Microsoft® Windows® Desktop Deployment Resource Kit

Administrative Templates

Registry-based policies and administrative templates are two names for the same thing. They are registry settings that override users’ preferences, and users can’t change them for good reasons that you’ll learn about in this section. Other policies, including security settings, might or might not be registry settings. In the GPO editor, you find registry-based policies in the Administrative Templates folder under Computer Configuration or User Configuration.

Figure 20-3 shows the workflow using registry-based policies. You define policies using the GPO editor. Administrative templates, files with the .adm extension, define the policies you can set. Administrative templates and policy templates are the same thing, and you ...