A Few Group Policy Questions

Hi everyone,

I have an XP Pro SP2 machine that will be shared by several family members
and I have a few questions about Group Policies. Active Directory is not
involved here.

In the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) I want to turn off IE's prompt to
download ActiveX Controls. The setting for this is at:

User Configuration
Administrative Templates
Windows Components
Internet Explorer
Security Features
Restrict ActiveX Install
Internet Explorer Process = Enabled

After setting this policy I log off and then log back on but IE still
prompts me to download ActiveX controls (Acrobate Reader, for example). It
seems the
GP setting is not taking affect. Any ideas why?

A follow up question is this: My understanding is that, contrary to the
name, "User Configuration" policies apply to *all* users, not individual
users. So, setting the poilicy for one user account affects *all* accounts on
the machine. If this is true, why does the Group Policy editor have separate
sections for "User Configuration" and "System Configuration"?

Perhaps it *is* possible to specify separate policies for different
accounts. This is ultimately what I want to do. I have an idea on how to do
this (by copying .pol files and invoking gpupdate.exe) but the fact that
ActiveX installations cannot be turned off is stopping me dead in my tracks.

Thanks much.

--
Tom Baxter

PhrozenRoad
Thu Apr 17 19:59:01 PDT 2008

Tom have you tried a "gpupdate /FORCE" ? Usually when i make a change to the
GP on a workstation I have to update force it to get it to propegate to the
workstation.

"Tom Baxter" wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I have an XP Pro SP2 machine that will be shared by several family members
> and I have a few questions about Group Policies. Active Directory is not
> involved here.
>
> In the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) I want to turn off IE's prompt to
> download ActiveX Controls. The setting for this is at:
>
> User Configuration
> Administrative Templates
> Windows Components
> Internet Explorer
> Security Features
> Restrict ActiveX Install
> Internet Explorer Process = Enabled
>
> After setting this policy I log off and then log back on but IE still
> prompts me to download ActiveX controls (Acrobate Reader, for example). It
> seems the
> GP setting is not taking affect. Any ideas why?
>
> A follow up question is this: My understanding is that, contrary to the
> name, "User Configuration" policies apply to *all* users, not individual
> users. So, setting the poilicy for one user account affects *all* accounts on
> the machine. If this is true, why does the Group Policy editor have separate
> sections for "User Configuration" and "System Configuration"?
>
> Perhaps it *is* possible to specify separate policies for different
> accounts. This is ultimately what I want to do. I have an idea on how to do
> this (by copying .pol files and invoking gpupdate.exe) but the fact that
> ActiveX installations cannot be turned off is stopping me dead in my tracks.
>
> Thanks much.
>
> --
> Tom Baxter

Tom
Thu Apr 17 20:45:03 PDT 2008


> Tom have you tried a "gpupdate /FORCE" ? Usually when i make a change to
> the
> GP on a workstation I have to update force it to get it to propegate to
> the
> workstation.

Yes, I tried that first, but no luck. After gpupdate did not work I tried
logging off/on but that didn't work either.



> "Tom Baxter" wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I have an XP Pro SP2 machine that will be shared by several family
>> members
>> and I have a few questions about Group Policies. Active Directory is not
>> involved here.
>>
>> In the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) I want to turn off IE's prompt to
>> download ActiveX Controls. The setting for this is at:
>>
>> User Configuration
>> Administrative Templates
>> Windows Components
>> Internet Explorer
>> Security Features
>> Restrict ActiveX Install
>> Internet Explorer Process = Enabled
>>
>> After setting this policy I log off and then log back on but IE still
>> prompts me to download ActiveX controls (Acrobate Reader, for example).
>> It
>> seems the
>> GP setting is not taking affect. Any ideas why?
>>
>> A follow up question is this: My understanding is that, contrary to the
>> name, "User Configuration" policies apply to *all* users, not individual
>> users. So, setting the poilicy for one user account affects *all*
>> accounts on
>> the machine. If this is true, why does the Group Policy editor have
>> separate
>> sections for "User Configuration" and "System Configuration"?
>>
>> Perhaps it *is* possible to specify separate policies for different
>> accounts. This is ultimately what I want to do. I have an idea on how to
>> do
>> this (by copying .pol files and invoking gpupdate.exe) but the fact that
>> ActiveX installations cannot be turned off is stopping me dead in my
>> tracks.
>>
>> Thanks much.
>>
>> --
>> Tom Baxter