Installation of Poledit under Windows 2000 / XP

Under Windows 2000 we saw the implementation of group policies that can be managed under Windows 2000 / 2003. These group policies function only under Windows 2000/XP/2003, in an Active Directory environment.

When on a work grouped network, the group policies work locally but all the changes will be applied to the users, which is a bit annoying. Microsoft therefore published an article that allowed you to create user policies that could be applied to everyone except the administrator.  You can read how to do this here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx'scid=kb;fr;293655

Even though it is possible, it is a little difficult to actually implement. So it would be nice to use Poledit like we used to do.

To implement Poledit under Windows 2000/XP you will require these files.

The adm files for Windows 2000 and XP are the same adm files that are used by group policies, but are modified so that Poledit can recognise them. You can download them here.

Once you have downloaded them, copy these files to the hard drive, a diskette or network location.

Open Poledit on a test machine:

First of all: Poledit will insult you :-) Press OK.

It will ask you to load a template. Press Cancel.
Click on options, template examples.

Click on add and choose the common.adm file.
Click on OK so that Poledit loads the file into memory.

Now, select file and open registry:

You will see that you have two possibilities: Local Computer or Local User.
On the Local Computer, double click and open “Network” / “Update system policies”

Choose “Manual” in update mode and specify a location.

I have chosen “c:\winnt\ntconfig.pol” but you can put these anywhere you like. You can even store them on a network location so that they can be easily changed from anywhere.

For example: on a Windows 2000 system, create a folder that will be shared with the name Poledit$ (the $ sign hides the share) and verify that the sharing rights are: Everyone – Read.