Creating custom Group Policy templates

This tip was submitted to the SearchWin2000.com tip exchange by member Vladimir Tankhimovich. Please let other users know how useful it is by rating it below.

I have a mixed Windows environment -- NT domain, NT/2000/XP clients, so I have to create custom policy templates to deploy features missing in NT such as Automatic Windows Updates or Windows Firewall settings.

Save the script below as a text file with .ADM extension, put the file on your PDC and run poledit.exe on it. In Options, add the new file to the list of templates, then create a new or open currently used policy. You will see the new entries under "Default Computer." Using this technique, you can add your own registry entries to deploy throughout domain.

-------------------------------------------------------- 
Automatic Windows Updates Settings: 
-------------------------------------------------------- 

CLASS MACHINE 

CATEGORY !!SUS 

POLICY !!ServerAddress 

        KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" 
        PART !!ServerAddress EDITTEXT 
        VALUENAME "WUServer" 
        DEFAULT !!WUServer 
        MAXLEN 255 
        END PART 

        PART !!StatusServer EDITTEXT 
        VALUENAME "WUStatusServer" 
        DEFAULT !!WUStatusServer 
         MAXLEN 255 
        END PART 
        END POLICY 

POLICY !!ClientSettings 

        KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" 
        PART !!NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 1 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 0 
        END PART 

        PART !!NoAutoUpdate CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME NoAutoUpdate 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 0 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 1 
        END PART 

        PART !!AUOptions CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME AUOptions 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 4 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 3 
        END PART 

        PART !!UseWUServer CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME UseWUServer 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 1 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 0 
        END PART 

        PART !!ScheduledInstallDay CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME ScheduledInstallDay 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 0 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 1 
        END PART 

        PART !!ScheduledInstallTime DROPDOWNLIST 
        VALUENAME ScheduledInstallTime 
        ITEMLIST 
                NAME !!12am        VALUE NUMERIC 0 
                NAME !!1am        VALUE NUMERIC 1 
                NAME !!2am        VALUE NUMERIC 2 
                NAME !!3am        VALUE NUMERIC 3 
                NAME !!4am        VALUE NUMERIC 4 
                NAME !!5am        VALUE NUMERIC 5 
                NAME !!6am        VALUE NUMERIC 6 
                NAME !!7am        VALUE NUMERIC 7 
                NAME !!8am        VALUE NUMERIC 8 
                NAME !!9am        VALUE NUMERIC 9 
                NAME !!10am        VALUE NUMERIC 10 
                NAME !!11am        VALUE NUMERIC 11 
                NAME !!12pm        VALUE NUMERIC 12 
                NAME !!1pm        VALUE NUMERIC 13 
                NAME !!2pm        VALUE NUMERIC 14 
                NAME !!3pm        VALUE NUMERIC 15 
                NAME !!4pm        VALUE NUMERIC 16 
                NAME !!5pm        VALUE NUMERIC 17 
                NAME !!6pm        VALUE NUMERIC 18 
                NAME !!7pm        VALUE NUMERIC 19 
                NAME !!8pm        VALUE NUMERIC 20 
                NAME !!9pm        VALUE NUMERIC 21 
                NAME !!10pm        VALUE NUMERIC 22 
                NAME !!11pm        VALUE NUMERIC 23 
        END ITEMLIST 
        END PART 

        PART !!RescheduleWaitTime CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME RescheduleWaitTime 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 1 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 5 
        END PART 
        END POLICY 

POLICY !!AutoUpdateService 

        KEYNAME "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv" 
        PART !!AutoUpdateService2 CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME Start 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 2 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 4 
        END PART 
        END POLICY 
        
POLICY !!BITS 

        KEYNAME "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BITS" 
        PART !!BITS2 CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME Start 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 2 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 4 
        END PART 
        END POLICY 

END CATEGORY 

[strings] 
SUS="Software Update Service Settings" 
ServerAddress="Windows Update Server" 
ClientSettings="Client Settings" 
WUServer="http://sus.trackdata.com" 
WUStatusServer="http://sus.trackdata.com" 
StatusServer="Windows Update Status Server" 
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers="No reboot when user logged on" 
NoAutoUpdate="Enable Automatic Updates" 
AUOptions="Automatically download and schedule installation of updates" 
UseWUServer="Use local SUS Server" 
ScheduledInstallDay="Schedule installation for every day" 
ScheduledInstallTime="Installation Time" 
RescheduleWaitTime="Start missed install 1 minute after AutoUpdate service starts" 
BITS="BITS" 
BITS2="Set BITS service to Automatic" 
AutoUpdateService="Auto Update Service" 
AutoUpdateService2="Set Auto Update Service to Automatic" 
12am="AM 12" 
1am="AM 01" 
2am="AM 02" 
3am="AM 03" 
4am="AM 04" 
5am="AM 05" 
6am="AM 06" 
7am="AM 07" 
8am="AM 08" 
9am="AM 09" 
10am="AM 10" 
11am="AM 11" 
12pm="PM 12" 
1pm="PM 01" 
2pm="PM 02" 
3pm="PM 03" 
4pm="PM 04" 
5pm="PM 05" 
6pm="PM 06" 
7pm="PM 07" 
8pm="PM 08" 
9pm="PM 09" 
10pm="PM 10" 
11pm="PM 11" 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 
Disable/Enable Windows Firewall: 
--------------------------------------------------------------- 

CLASS MACHINE 

CATEGORY !!XPSP2Firewall 

POLICY !!DomainProfile 

        KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile" 
        PART !!DisableFirewall CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME EnableFirewall 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 0 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 1 
        END PART 
        END POLICY 

POLICY !!StandardProfile 

        KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile" 
        PART !!DisableFirewall CHECKBOX 
        VALUENAME EnableFirewall 
        VALUEON NUMERIC 0 
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 1 
        END PART 
        END POLICY 

END CATEGORY 

[strings] 
XPSP2Firewall="Windows XP Firewall" 
DomainProfile="Domain Profile" 
StandardProfile="Standard Profile" 
DisableFirewall="Disable Firewall"