Securing Windows XP on K-12 networks with custom ADM files

Takeaway: Group Policy, in Active Directory, provides a granular way to provide access control for all aspects of local and network resources based on user account, group membership, computer name, etc. However, there are some things that Group Policy can’t do by default. In those cases, you can use custom ADM files.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6159231.html

I used these istructions to help configure power management on laptops that were used by students for very short amounts of time.

The problem was that their printers and their network connections were all setup wirelessly, and the computers would either standby, hibernate, or whatever during periods of inactivity.  By using a custom ADM file, I was able to configure all of them without even needing to turn them on.

The ADM file that I used is here (Just copy and paste into notepad, then save as an ADM file, not txt!):

CLASS USER
CATEGORY “Control Panel”

  POLICY “PowerCfg”
  KEYNAME “Control Panel\PowerCfg”
    PART “PowerScheme” DROPDOWNLIST
    VALUENAME “CurrentPowerPolicy”
     ITEMLIST
      NAME “HomeOfficeDesk” VALUE Numeric 0
      NAME “PortableLaptop” VALUE Numeric 1
      NAME “Presentation” VALUE Numeric 2 DEFAULT
      NAME “AlwaysOn” VALUE Numeric 3
      NAME “Minimal” VALUE Numeric 4
      NAME “MaxBattery” VALUE Numeric 5

     END ITEMLIST
    END PART
  END POLICY
END CATEGORY