Microsoft KB Archive/228460

= Location of ADM (Administrative Template) Files in Windows =

Article ID: 228460

Article Last Modified on 2/26/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

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This article was previously published under Q228460





SUMMARY
This article describes the location of ADM files while they are a component of a Group Policy Object (GPO), and the location of additional ADM template files.



MORE INFORMATION
Administrative (ADM) Templates are files that define the settings the administrator can configure through the Group Policy utility.

By default, two ADM files are loaded when a new Group Policy Object is created. One for the User and one for the computer. These two ADM files are named Inetres.adm (Internet Explorer Settings) and System.adm (Windows operating system component settings). The ADM templates are included in Windows and are located in the %SystemRoot%\Inf folder.

Active Directory Group Policy Objects
When you create Group Policy Objects using the Active Directory Users and Computers or Active Directory Sites and Services utilities, you have data in the Active Directory and in SYSVOL (an automatically replicated folder used by domain controllers of the same domain). In SYSVOL, each Group Policy Object has an associated folder to store files that are components of the Group Policy. The template files used by a given GPO are stored in an "ADM" folder. For example, if the GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) associated with the "Default Domain Policy" GPO is {31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}, the local path to the ADM folder associated with this GPO would be the following path, where  is the location of the SYSVOL folder:

\Domain Name\Policies\{31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}\Adm

The ADM folder within the associated GPO folder does not exist until the Group Policy Object has been opened for the first time and you click either the Computer or User configuration node.

When you create a GPO in the Active Directory and a User or Computer configuration node is selected, the Inetres.adm and System.adm files are copied from the %SystemRoot%\Inf folder on the client computer to the appropriate ADM folder for the GPO in SYSVOL. When an administrator adds an ADM template to a Group Policy Object that exists in the Active Directory, the ADM file is copied from the location the user specified into the ADM folder of the associated Group Policy Object in SYSVOL.

In either case, when the File Replication Service (FRS) discovers the changed file (in this case, a new file), it replicates that file to other domain controllers in the same domain. When another administrator opens the Group Policy Object, the ADM file is present to be loaded along with the Group Policy Object which allows the available settings to be displayed in the Group Policy utility. If the ADM file is not there, the settings remains in the Group Policy Object, but is not visible using the user interface.

For additional information about how to identify the directory in SYSVOL associated with a Group Policy Object, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

216359 How to Identify Group Policy Objects in the Active Directory and SYSVOL

Local Group Policy Objects (LGPO)
Windows creates the Local Group Policy Object automatically. The administrator of the computer can use the LGPO to define settings of their own, but GPO's at the domain can override the local settings.

When you create an LGPO, you create the following folder:

%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\GroupPolicy

When you use the "Administrative Template" settings for the first time, the Inetres.adm and System.adm files are copied from the INF folder on the local computer to the appropriate ADM folder under the GroupPolicy folder. When an ADM template is added to a Local Group Policy Object (LGPO), the ADM file from the location the user specified is copied to this folder.

When the administrator opens the Local Group Policy Object again, the ADM file loads from the ADM folder under the GroupPolicy folder.

Additional query words: FRS NTFRS

Keywords: kbenv kbinfo KB228460

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