A long standing issue (it goes back as far as Windows 10 1511) exists where GPOs are not (or not always) applied on Windows 10 machines, even though the entire setup checks out (correct GPO links, network in working order, domain controllers functional). Back in Windows 10 1511, there was a certain update introducing something called UNC hardening which caused this behaviour. Although it was expected that this has since been resolved in another Cumulative update, there are still numerous reports of users encountering this issue all the way up to Windows 10 2004.

Should you be affected by this issue, the symptoms are as follows:

You are able to succesfully log on using a domain account you'  ...

By default, Adobe Reader DC pummels you with all kinds of offers for trial versions and cloud accounts, which can be annoying for yourself and your users. Luckily, it can be turned off through a few well-placed registry keys, as described in the Enterprise Toolkit.

Create the following key(s):HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown\cIPM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown\cIPM (for 32-bit app on 64-bit Windows)



Create these DWORD-values and set them to zero:bDontShowMsgWhenViewingDoc (DWORD) = 0

bShowMsgAtLaunch (DWORD) = 0

bAllowUserToChangeMsgPrefs (DWORD) = 0



Note that the value for bDontSh  ...

I ran into an issue where a local group policy had settings that were not accessible or editable using the conventional Local Group Policy editor (gpedit.msc), causing unwanted settings to be re-applied each time the group policy was refreshed. After a bit of searching around on the internet, I found a Powershell module with the ability to add, edit and remove individual items directly from Registry.pol policy files.

The module PolicyFileEditor can be downloaded and installed easily through Powershell:

Install-Module -Name PolicyFileEditor

As with everything from PSGallery, you need to have NuGet installed and updated.

The module comes with examples on how to use it. It can also be viewe  ...

If you're looking for the Group Policy Templates (ADM/ADMX) for configuring Acrobat Reader DC, you can download them from the Adobe FTP:

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/AcrobatDC/misc/

When updating the ADMX Central Store from Windows 10 to Windows 10 v1511, you may encounter the following error when attempting to view or edit group policies:

Administrative Templates
Namespace ‘Microsoft.Policies.WindowsStore’ is already defined as the target namespace for another file in the store.

File \\domain.fqdn\SysVol\domain.fqdn\Policies\PolicyDefinitions\WinStoreUI.admx, line 4, column 80

A similar problem is referenced in KB 3077013 but basically also applies to this issue:

On a domain controller, using Explorer, navigate to the ADMX Central Store:...\SYSVOL\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions

Delete the file WinStoreUI.admx and all occurances of WinStoreUI.adml (under eac  ...

When updating the ADMX Central Store from Windows 10 to Windows 10 v1511, you may encounter the following error when attempting to view or edit group policies:

Administrative Templates
Namespace ‘Microsoft.Policies.WindowsStore’ is already defined as the target namespace for another file in the store.

File \\domain.fqdn\SysVol\domain.fqdn\Policies\PolicyDefinitions\WinStoreUI.admx, line 4, column 80

A similar problem is referenced in KB 3077013 but basically also applies to this issue:

On a domain controller, using Explorer, navigate to the ADMX Central Store:folder containing SYSVOL\SYSVOL\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions

Delete the file WinStoreUI.admx and all occurances of WinSt  ...

Since 2008, when a (local or domain) admin logs on a Windows Server, Server Manager is automatically started. This is often unwanted and tedious, especially with later versions, which take time to load and cannot be closed until they're done loading.

You can disable automatic startup of Server Manager through a group policy. Apply this to all your servers will prevent Server Manager from starting up, even on new servers and users logging on a server for the first time.

Create (or open an existing) group policy which gets applied to your servers.

In the policy, navigate to: Computer Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → System → Server Manager

Set Do no  ...

For the proper application of all parts of a GPO, including the Group Policy Preferences (GPP), you need to install the right client on your client computers. You can find a list of download links below.

Windows XP: http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=3628

Windows XP x64: http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=23680

Windows 2003: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=6955

Windows 2003 x64: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14171

Windows Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24169

Windows Vista x64: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15198

Starting from Vista SP2, you no longe  ...