Introduction (Using Administrative Template Files with Registry-Based Group Policy)

Applies To: Windows Server 2003

Administrators can use Group Policy to deliver and apply one or more desired configurations or policy settings to a set of targeted users and computers within an Active Directory® directory service environment. The majority of available policy settings are provided through Administrative Template files (.adm files) and are designed to modify specific keys in the registry. This is known as registry-based policy. For many applications, the use of registry-based policy delivered by .adm files is the simplest and best way to support centralized management of policy settings.

Intended for IT administrators and developers, this document describes how to implement registry-based Group Policy by using .adm files.

For detailed instructions about enabling applications for Group Policy, see "Group Policy" in the Microsoft Platform Software Development Kit at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=26258.