Managing Windows Vista Group Policy (Part 1)

This article covers Administrative Templates and the Central Store in Windows Vista Group Policy.
Author: Jakob H. Heidelberg

Introduction
Windows Vista includes some important changes from earlier Windows operating systems in regards to Group Policy (GP). This article introduces you to how ADM files evolved into multi-lingual files by the use of XML (ADMX/ADML files) and the Central Store with all its glory.

Welcome to the constantly expanding Microsoft Group Policy universe.

ADM vs. ADMX/ADML files
ADM files were first introduced with Windows NT4 and they have stuck ever since. First of all it's important to understand, that ADM files are nothing but templates (Administrative Templates) - this means that when Group Policy Object Editor (GPOE) or Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) loads, the content is presented to the users of the console - nothing else (the administrative experience you could say). When the policy is changed or created, a Registry.pol file is created in the Group Policy Object (GPO) container - this is the actual policy with all the corresponding and specific registry settings defined in the template file(s). So, the machine or user receiving the policy actually doesn’t need the ADM files at all.

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