Administrative Template
Encyclopedia
Administrative Templates are a feature of Group Policy
, a Microsoft
technology for centralised management of machines and users in an Active Directory
environment.
Administrative Templates facilitate the management of registry-based policy. An ADM file is used to describe both the user interface presented to the Group Policy administrator and the registry keys that should be updated on the target machines. An ADM file is a text file with a specific syntax which describes both the interface and the registry values which will be changed if the policy is enabled or disabled.
ADM files are consumed by the Group Policy Object Editor (GPEdit). Windows XP
Service Pack 2 shipped with five ADM files (system.adm, inetres.adm, wmplayer.adm, conf.adm and wuau.adm). These are merged into a unified "namespace" in GPEdit and presented to the administrator under the Administrative Templates node (for both machine and user policy).
CLASS MACHINE
CATEGORY "Wikipedia Apps"
POLICY "Wikipedia"
KEYNAME "Software\WikiSoft\Preferences"
EXPLAIN "Configures WikiSoft Preferences"
VALUENAME "SharingEnabled"
VALUEON "Yes"
VALUEOFF "No"
END POLICY
END CATEGORY
A valid ADM file must have the following keywords:
Optional keywords used include:
View Filtering must be turned off in order to see custom preference settings (such as this example) in the Group Policy Editor.
and Windows Server 2003
. This approach allows management of machines that are running an operating system other than that on which GPEdit is used.
). However, in some instances this can cause operational issues. To this end, various policy settings are available to manage the manner in which ADM files are read and stored. These are described in Microsoft's KB article 816662.
Group Policy
Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems. Group Policy is a set of rules that control the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides the centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and...
, a Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
technology for centralised management of machines and users in an Active Directory
Active Directory
Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....
environment.
Administrative Templates facilitate the management of registry-based policy. An ADM file is used to describe both the user interface presented to the Group Policy administrator and the registry keys that should be updated on the target machines. An ADM file is a text file with a specific syntax which describes both the interface and the registry values which will be changed if the policy is enabled or disabled.
ADM files are consumed by the Group Policy Object Editor (GPEdit). Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
Service Pack 2 shipped with five ADM files (system.adm, inetres.adm, wmplayer.adm, conf.adm and wuau.adm). These are merged into a unified "namespace" in GPEdit and presented to the administrator under the Administrative Templates node (for both machine and user policy).
Syntax
A simple ADM example follows:CLASS MACHINE
CATEGORY "Wikipedia Apps"
POLICY "Wikipedia"
KEYNAME "Software\WikiSoft\Preferences"
EXPLAIN "Configures WikiSoft Preferences"
VALUENAME "SharingEnabled"
VALUEON "Yes"
VALUEOFF "No"
END POLICY
END CATEGORY
A valid ADM file must have the following keywords:
- Class - either MACHINE or USER
- Category - Defines organizational structure of ADM and where it will be displayed in the GPEdit window.
- Policy - Groups definitions into one node and configuration screen of the GPEdit tree
Optional keywords used include:
- Keyname - used to define what registryWindows registryThe Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
key will be affected
View Filtering must be turned off in order to see custom preference settings (such as this example) in the Group Policy Editor.
ADM files across different platforms
It is important to note that ADM files shipped with Microsoft operating systems include descriptions of policy settings for not just that platform but for all other platforms on which Group Policy is supported. For example, the Windows XP Service Pack 2 ADM files described policy settings not just for this platform but also for Windows 2000Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...
. This approach allows management of machines that are running an operating system other than that on which GPEdit is used.
Managing ADM files
By default, ADM files are stored in each GPO, within Sysvol on domain controllers. This creates a simple and effective model for replicating ADM files across domain controllers (which is handled by the File Replication ServiceFile Replication Service
File Replication Service is a Microsoft Windows Server service for distributing shared files and Group Policy Objects. It replaced the Lan Manager Replication service , and has been partially replaced by Distributed File System Replication...
). However, in some instances this can cause operational issues. To this end, various policy settings are available to manage the manner in which ADM files are read and stored. These are described in Microsoft's KB article 816662.