Windows 7 GPOs

[Chuckster]

Hi All,

I have finally managed to get a copy of Windows 7 Pro and I'm now in the middle of doing some testing.

I've configured a GPO and a test user account but I don't think it's working like the way it should do (at least not what I'm used to with Win XP).

Is there any chance someone is willing to share a copy of their GPO structure for their desktop and laptop configurations? Also, their GPO for both staff and students?

[Michael]

Windows XP and Windows 7 do use a different set of policy files:

ADM for 2000/XP/2003
ADMX for Vista/7/2008/2008 R2/8

If you have a 2008 R2 Server, you can configure GPOs from here. If you have a 2003 Server, you need to take a look at RSAT.

[Chuckster]

I have a Win 2008 R2 server and I've made a copy of my Win XP GPO that gets applied to workstations. I made tweaks to the copy of Win XP GPO to reflect the options of Win 7.

With Win XP you can see the changes imeediately when you apply a setting. However, Win 7 it isn't as clear cut as I thought it would be (the GUI makes it confusing at the worst of times).

I figured if somebody could export their GPOs as a HTML it would save me tearing my hair out.

[Michael]

I'd recommend you start as new with Windows 7 GPOs. There are a lot more than there are with XP.

A lot of the settings are the same/similar, but there are many new additions - probably twice as much.

[Chuckster]

I'm doing that, too - creating a new GPO altogether for Workstations.

Do you apply WMI filtering? If so, what do you have for your Windows 7?

[Michael]

Personally I don't as I use Windows 7 throughout, but a few people here do if you perform a search on the forum.

[Duke5A]

I'm doing that, too - creating a new GPO altogether for Workstations.

Do you apply WMI filtering? If so, what do you have for your Windows 7?

We're in the same boat and have separate policies with WMI filtering. Here is the filters we use:

To match Windows Vista and Windows 7

Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem Where Version like "6.%" and ProductType = "1"

To match Windows 2000 and Windows XP

Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem Where Version like "5.%" and ProductType = "1"

Everything works great under this setup. I hope this helps...

[zlorimer]

I'm doing that, too - creating a new GPO altogether for Workstations.

Do you apply WMI filtering? If so, what do you have for your Windows 7?

I use 4 different WMI filters. They are as follows: Windows 2k/XP PCs, Windows Vista/7 PCs, Windows 7 x86, and Windows 7 x64.

Win2k/XP PCs

root\CIMv2
select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where (Version like "5.%") and ProductType = "1"

Win7/Vista PCs

root\CIMv2
select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where Version like "6.%" and ProductType = "1"

Win7 x86

root\CIMv2
SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND ProductType = "1" AND NOT OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Win7 x64

root\CIMv2
SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND ProductType = "1" AND OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

As far as GPOs and such, I have various different ones that do a lot of different things and I don't mind posting them, but how strict or lenient of a policy do you want to see?