chrbb Posted June 29, 2010 Posted June 29, 2010 Can someone explain in dead simple terms what rsat is and how i can use it to manage group policies on windows 7, please? Am I right in thinking that the policies I have set on server 2003 for xp clients will still work on wndow 7 clients but none of the new windows 7 policies will work unless I use rsat?
witch Posted June 29, 2010 Posted June 29, 2010 (edited) I would like to know this too as I am about to put Windows 7 on one of my suites. We have server 2008 R2 if it makes any difference Have googled it, but can't find anything about Windows 7 policies. If current polices set up for XP would work, why wouldnt new ones created on the server? Edited June 29, 2010 by witch
denon101 Posted June 29, 2010 Posted June 29, 2010 Have a look at AngryTechnicians blog. Here. I found it a good place to start when I began looking in to windows 7.
bossman Posted June 29, 2010 Posted June 29, 2010 @chrbb; @witch: Have a read of this:Download details: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 take your time in reading it and absorb
witch Posted June 29, 2010 Posted June 29, 2010 (edited) Thanks denon101 - I'll have a look Bossman:Thanks angel but I have read it - from what I can see you can go on with your XP domain and all will work - you can do without RSAT but you won't be able to use the extra things you can get with Windows 7 But if your domain is already locked down the way you want it, all policies will apply to the Windows 7 machines anyway so all will be well? (Why was I told I needed 2008 R2 and not just 2008?) chrrb - sorry I didnt mean to take over - looks like I'll be OK as I have Server 2008 R2 so I will creep quietly away in one role... But appear in my other role as we have Server 2003! Edited June 29, 2010 by witch
chrbb Posted June 29, 2010 Author Posted June 29, 2010 Witch no problem, nice to see we are all still doing 'work' at 10 o'clock! I've just read an article about windows 7 and server 2003, that the policies set for xp client will still work on windows 7 but the fancy new ones won't unless I set them from a windows 7 computer and the other windows 7 computers pick up their policies from there. Having just typed that I'm not sure it makes sense!
sted Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 Thanks denon101 - I'll have a look Bossman:Thanks angel but I have read it - from what I can see you can go on with your XP domain and all will work - you can do without RSAT but you won't be able to use the extra things you can get with Windows 7 But if your domain is already locked down the way you want it, all policies will apply to the Windows 7 machines anyway so all will be well? (Why was I told I needed 2008 R2 and not just 2008?) chrrb - sorry I didnt mean to take over - looks like I'll be OK as I have Server 2008 R2 so I will creep quietly away in one role... But appear in my other role as we have Server 2003! ive got a few setups with win7 clients and 2003 servers (luckily x64 servers as well as im chosing to ignore x86 win7 as a white elephant). Your normal gpos will quite happily apply to a win7 pc and so much the same thing. Policies written on a win7 box that cant be applied to windows xp will just be ignored (preferences can be applied however if you install an update the name of which escapes me) Rsat for me is basically a way of getting gpmc installed on a windows 7 pc so i can edit the policies/preferences that are only avaliable to win7/vista/2008/2008r2. It does do other things but ive not wanted/needed/really looked yet you can manage SOME extra settings from a 2008r1 but not all as 2008r1 is vista code based r2 is win7 code based
witch Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 chrbb: yes, it does make sense! Having a 2008 server I can highly recommend things like preferences. So even if you are OK with your XP policies, download RSAT and have a play!
jsnetman Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 (edited) you can manage SOME extra settings from a 2008r1 but not all as 2008r1 is vista code based r2 is win7 code based Found this out the hard way, we initially bought 2008 and soon realised you don't get the full win7 group policy functionality. To go back to the OP I don't think you can fully manage win 7 clients if you have 2003 server even if you create an admx store and I don't think you can do that on server 2003. Basically you will get the full benefits if you have 2008 R2 server, otherwise you will get basic functionality. Win 7 is a difficult os to control if you want to lock it down by group policy and only server 2008r2 will do it. Or you use a lot of registry edits and scripts. Edited June 30, 2010 by jsnetman
SYNACK Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 (edited) Found this out the hard way, we initially bought 2008 and soon realised you don't get the full win7 group policy functionality. To go back to the OP I don't think you can fully manage win 7 clients if you have 2003 server even if you create an admx store and I don't think you can do that on server 2003. Basically you will get the full benefits if you have 2008 R2 server, otherwise you will get basic functionality. Win 7 is a difficult os to control if you want to lock it down by group policy and only server 2008r2 will do it. Or you use a lot of registry edits and scripts. With updated templates and managing GPO from a Windows 7 box you can get almost all of the functionality policy wise. Prefferences are another matter but the policies are all managable even with a Windows 2003 box at the core. We had our Vista machines set like this for a fair while before the 2008 servers went in and we were able to manage them fine. Edited June 30, 2010 by SYNACK
sted Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Found this out the hard way, we initially bought 2008 and soon realised you don't get the full win7 group policy functionality. To go back to the OP I don't think you can fully manage win 7 clients if you have 2003 server even if you create an admx store and I don't think you can do that on server 2003. Basically you will get the full benefits if you have 2008 R2 server, otherwise you will get basic functionality. Win 7 is a difficult os to control if you want to lock it down by group policy and only server 2008r2 will do it. Or you use a lot of registry edits and scripts. as long as you have access to a win7 box with rsat installed it not its just a pain unless you have a technician pc with win7
chrbb Posted July 1, 2010 Author Posted July 1, 2010 Well we will be replacing our server before april 2011 with 2008r2, so I just need to be able to use windows 7 until then with our current policies set by 2003. I won't be having a windows 7 workstation for myself for quite a while. So am not going to set rsat on a staff laptop because I won't have daily access to it.
witch Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Well we will be replacing our server before april 2011 with 2008r2, so I just need to be able to use windows 7 until then with our current policies set by 2003. I won't be having a windows 7 workstation for myself for quite a while. So am not going to set rsat on a staff laptop because I won't have daily access to it. We've just ordered a new set of computers for the ITSuite with Windows 7 - but I had to take my own machine off the quote due to a very limited budget. So they will have Windows 7 and I won't NOT FAIR
SYNACK Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Well we will be replacing our server before april 2011 with 2008r2, so I just need to be able to use windows 7 until then with our current policies set by 2003. I won't be having a windows 7 workstation for myself for quite a while. So am not going to set rsat on a staff laptop because I won't have daily access to it. You may have issues doing this as to propperly lock stuff down, redirect stuff and customize the basic windows layout bits propperly you will need to be using RSAT. You can still do some of it with the 2003 configuration tools but not everything that you will want to in order to make stuff behave the way you want it to. You can manage most of the core stuff but things like allowing printer mapping and customizing the start menu so that it is more understandable in your environment are not configurable with the old console. The bright side is that you don't need access to it every day, just when you are initially setting up the policies and if you need to tweak them. You can probably do the initial settings on a teachers laptop before handing it over and then just borrow it for half an hour or so off the teacher if you really need to tweak it.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now