When you open the PolicyDefinitions folder in the central store, you will see a folder (typically named en-US for U.S. English systems) containing the relevant language-specific ADML files. In these files, you will find all the data that the Group Policy Object Editor needs in order to present the user interface to the administrator in the language of his or her choice. For example, all the “explain” text (online help for specific policy settings) is contained in these ADML files.
An example of an ADML file, with US English data for APPCOMPAT.ADMX.
Multiple Local GPO’s
Windows XP and 2000 offer only one local Group Policy Object. The thinking here may have been that “hey, everybody’s on a domain anyway, one local GPO should be enough.” However, not everybody’s on a domain – and even in a predominantly Active Directory world, one has an occasional need for a non-connected PC.
Vista and Windows server 2008 provides new flexibility for that situation. Not only can you create GPOs on a per-user basis, which is nice but not exactly practical if you have a lot of local user accounts to manage, you can create a GPO for local administrators, and another GPO for everybody else (local non-administrators). (Going in the reverse direction, a new policy setting lets you turn off all local GPO processing.)
By the way, the sequence of processing for these new GPOs is as follows: 1) machine GPO, 2) non-admins GPO, 3) admins GPO, and 4) individual-user GPO. Remember, as always in Group Policy, the default behavior is Last Write Wins.
See recent blog posts…
Dynamic Source File Loading
New Source File Format (ADMX/ADML) in WS2008
Key Changes in Group Policy Architecture in WS 2008
How to get started with Server Core in WS2008
