Hi All,

Managing Vista Group Policy in a Windows 2003 domain is a wee bit different than managing GP for XP or Server 2003. Basically because Vista policy templates are in a new format (admx) they can’t be edited by the GP Management Editor that runs on XP or 2003. So to get round this you need to manage the GP on a Vista client with Remote Server Administration Tools for Vista SP1 installed.

RSAT for Vista SP1 can be downloaded here and note once you install it you still need to go into Control Panel à Programs and Features and then turn on the feature. After rebooting you should find lots of new tools under Administration Tools in Vista including the GPMC.

It is also best practice to create a central store for you admx files on the sysvol of your DCs, GP tools will then connect to this and read the template files when editing or reviewing policies and this provides an easy means to keep the admx files up to date. Take a look at this technet article for how to setup the central store.

Have fun!

N3ilb

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