Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy (
More info?)
Thanks Eric,
You are correct there are always many different ways to accomplish tasks. I
was simply pointing out the three settings that are found out of the box
with Group Policy. One, to me, obvious item to point out is that Group
Policy at the same time a great robust platform for configuration management
that is pervasive throughout the AD enterprises and very complex and
difficult for some (not all) organizations to grok. From my experiences some
things that may be simple in one organzaiton introduces many complexities in
another and sometimes the 'simple' taks are not that simple to implement.
My goal with my post was to answer the question from the context of group
policy since this is the group, express my utopian reality and point out why
third parties exist to meet such needs. I did not mean for it to be a
'shamelss' plug ;-) but more subtle. Sorry if I overstepped.
Creating ADM files, maintaining them through version changes possibly,
mainting scripts and affording the expertise to create/maintain those
scripts is not always in the reach of organizations. If a great scripting
person is on staff they can accomplish a lot I don't know if I need them to
spend their time deploying registry hacks there are other more important
projects that will need their skills I am sure. Simplifying and creating a
"re-usable" process is a major goal of many companies and sometimes we all
turn to third parties or ISVs to see what they are doing in these areas.
Also, regarding creating a script to meet the needs it is not 'policy'. It
is launced via one of the four events available through Group Policy but the
action that the script performs is not policy and there are many benefits to
do this type of configuration management through Group Policy.
Just my thoughts,
Kevin
"Erik Szewczyk" <ErikSzewczyk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:903AD9F3-FA80-460C-8B12-8D74632FDD94@microsoft.com...
> While I understand your desire to push your product I disagree with your
assessment as to the capabilities of managing screen savers (or other
applications) with group policy. Now obviously one is going to have more
options if they make use of the group policy APIs as I'm assuming your
software has; but this doesnt mean that someone has to run out and get a 3rd
party product just to accomplish a simple task.
>
> I'll just use screen savers as an example, but there are plenty of other
applications where this would also apply. Screen savers are generally going
to store their settings in one of two places. Either the registry or config
file(s). Using a GPO and a little very basic scripting (nothing more than
batch files) you can copy or merge these settings as you need to.
>
> As for the Marquee screen saver you'll note that the settings (including
the displayed text) are included in this registry key:
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Screen Saver.Marquee
> You could set it up on one machine however you want it to appear domain
wide and than export that .reg file. You could than use a GPO to merge this
key into your clients' registries. The time required to set this up is
minimal and it doesnt require the use of 3rd party products.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -Erik
>
> "Kevin Sullivan" wrote:
>
> > Hey Harold,
> >
> > There are only a few items related to screen savers that can be managed
> > through Group Policy with the default set of client side extensions
offered
> > by Microsoft. The first is you can set 'Screen Saver' This simply says
if
> > disabled screen savers will not run and if enabled they will if not
> > configured, well you know how that works. The caveat here is that all
> > clients will need to be configured seperately regarding what screen
saver
> > should run and what the preferences are. The second Screen Saver related
> > setting is Screen Saver executable name. This is simply the name of the
> > screen saver. The screen saver you are looking for is ssmarque.scr. The
> > third setting related is screen saver time out. this is in seconds I
believe
> > and just says how long to wait for the Screen Saver to kick in. These
> > settings are configured under Administrative Templates under the User
node
> > most likely.
> >
> > What you can not do is setup the message or any other configuration
settings
> > for the individual screen saver that you choose. This makes the task
that
> > you are attempting much more complex that it should be. The goal is set
> > screen saver settings, just like I would do locally, and make those
settings
> > propogate through my environment via Group Policy so that I can take
> > advantage of all of the cool features of group policy. Microsoft created
a
> > fantastic framewok to do this kind of configuration management through
Group
> > Policy and opened the framework so that software companies can extend
the
> > reach of Group Policy by adding robust Client Side Extensions that
adhere to
> > the original Microsoft intent and specification.
> >
> > This is what we do at AutoProf. We extend the reach of Group Policy by
> > making robust Client Side Extensions available to our customers that
need to
> > get more out of the investment they made in AD. We know what kinds of
tasks
> > need to be accomplished easily by listening to the market and by having
been
> > there managing large AD environments from the advent of Active Directoy.
> > Very cool stuff, you should take a look at some of the extensions that
are
> > already available.
> >
> > Good Luck,
> >
> > Kevin Sullivan
> > Product Manager
> > AutoProf
> >
http://www.autoprof.com/policy
> >
> >
> > "hbohn" <hbohn@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:9E7494A1-CF5A-48B0-A205-3D5F09B58A0C@microsoft.com...
> > > is there a way to set the text for the scrolling marquee screensaver
for
> > all pc's in a domain from the server?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > >
> > > Harold
> >
> >
> >
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