Rant: Converting ADM to ADMX files

I've just had a reason to manage Office 2003 through GP, so I thought:

"Great - I'll do it the new Vista way. Download the Office 2003 ADM files, convert them to ADMX, copy them to the Central Store and use Vista to manage them"

Noooo....

The FullArmor ADMX converter converted them, and I copied them to the central store, but the Vista Group Policy Editor Just gave loads of syntax errors, mainly with the ADML files.

I spent half an hour trying to edit them,, but just gave up and instead went back to the old way. I used Server 2003 to create a GPO with the ADM files.

I'm sure it's not supposed to work like this. We're repeatedly told by MS to move over to ADMX files and forget about ADMs.

The worrying thing is that if I'd had Server 2008 and not 2003, I might not have been able to do it the old XP way - I'd have been stuck.

Rant over.

yeah bit of sticky situation but good post :-)

Your supposed to migrate to Office 2007 of course! The admin kit for that version has ADMX files...

It is a good point actually. If Microsoft have made the effort to create a Compatibility Pack for Office 2000 and later for *.docx files (and the rest) it would make sense to introduce *.ADMX versions of Ork Tools if the convertor does not work.

You could try posting on the MS Newsgroups and see what reply(ies) you get.

Thanks, Michael. I posted on Friday, but no response yet. It's now buried a long way down the newsgroup, so it's unlikely I'll get a response.