Tag Archives: Group Policies

Group Policy: remove hibernation file

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On some servers you might see the following file appearing on you system drive: hiberfil.sys

Hiberfil.sys

This file is a system generated file. The system uses this file when it goes into hibernation. For a server, this might not be necessary :-) .

You can delete this file by using the command: powercfg –h off.

You can also create a Group Policy (rather a Group Policy Preference) for it.

Open a Group Policy that is applied to all of your servers (or create one). Navigate to:
<Computer Configuration>
     <Preferences>
          <Registry>

Create a new “ Registry Item” with the following values / parameters:

Action: Update
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key Path: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Value name: Disable Hibernation on Servers

Value Type: REG_SZ
Value data: %systemroot%\system32\powercfg.exe -h off

GPP Disable Hibernation on Servers

Run gpupdate /force on your server and logoff. When you log back on on to a server it will run this command once and thus will remove the hibernation file.

oh, btw. If you can’t see the hiberfil.sys on your system drive, it might be because it is hidden. Open Folder Options and select “show hidden files and folders”  and deselect “ Hide Protected operating systems files”

Folder Options

Microsoft Online Sign-In Client ADM GPO

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* update: the adm file mentioned in this post isn’t available anymore, see comment (at least I did not find him, if you did please post a comment)

If your want to manage the settings inside de Microsoft Online Sign-In Client (used with BPOS) through Group Policies, you can download a Active Directory Group Policy Object here.

As stated on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog:
This file is provided as-is and is not supported.  It has been tested and works properly, however it has not gone through official Engineering sign-off.  Once signed off it will be published to the Microsoft Downloads site, so stay tuned for an official version.

Settings you can manage:

  • Enable Sign In to remember the username of the last signed in user
    This policy should be Enabled when your user’s Online Account Name should be displayed each time the Sign-In Client is launched.
  • Enable Sign In to remember the password of the last signed in user
    This policy should be Enabled if your Online user’s password should be remembered and populated each time the Sign-In Client is launched.
  • Enable Sign In to automatically sign in the user
    This policy should be Enabled if you want the Sign-In Client to automatically sign-in once Windows is started.
  • Enable Sign In to automatically start when the user starts Windows
    This policy should be Enabled if you want the Sign-In Client to automatically launch after Windows starts.
  • Enable Sign In to automatically minimize when the user signs in to Sign In
    This policy should be Enabled if you want the Sign-In Client to automatically minimize to the Windows.
  • Enable Sign In to show alerts when a new update is available for Sign In
    This policy should be Enabled. It provides visible popup notifications when a Sign-In Client Application update is available.
  • Enable Sign In to show alerts when a new configuration is available
    This policy should be Enabled. It provides visible popup notifications when a Sign-In Client Application Configuration update is available.

BPOS sign in client Group Policy Object

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A Group Policy Object for managing the users sign-in Client Application (used in Microsoft Online)

http://blogs.technet.com/msonline/archive/2009/02/09/microsoft-online-sign-in-client-adm-group-policy-object.aspx

/* 26.05.2010: I just got noticed in the comments that the link isn’t working anymore, thx Darren*/

Some things it can manage:

  • Enables Sign In to remember the username of the last signed in user. This policy should be Enabled when your user’s Online Account Name should be displayed each time the Sign-In Client is launched.
  • Enables Sign In to remember the password of the last signed in user. This policy should be Enabled if your Online user’s password should be remembered and populated each time the Sign-In Client is launched.
  • Enables Sign In to automatically sign in the user. This policy should be Enabled if you want the Sign-In Client to automatically sign-in once Windows is started.
  • Enables Sign In to automatically start when the user starts Windows. This policy should be Enabled if you want the Sign-In Client to automatically launch after Windows starts.
  • Enables Sign In to automatically minimize when the user signs in to Sign In. This policy should be Enabled if you want the Sign-In Client to automatically minimize to the Windows SysTray.
  • Enables Sign In to show alerts when a new update is available for Sign In. This policy should be Enabled. It provides visible popup notifications when a Sign-In Client Application update is available.
  • Enables Sign In to show alerts when a new configuration is available. This policy should be Enabled. It provides visible popup notifications when a Sign-In Client Application Configuration update is available.

GPO: disable Office ribbon Menu items

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Problem:

  • I needed to disable a menu item in Excel 2007.

Resolution:

  • First of all download the ADM(X) templates for Office 2007 (keep in mind I am using server 2008). You can download them here
  • Extract it to a folder, and then copy the contents of the admx folder to C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
  • Open your Group Policy Editor (gpmc.msc), and make a new Group Policy (I named it “Office GPO”
  • If you browse to [User Configuration], [Administrative Templates], you will see all the Office Policy Definitions.
    Office Policy Definitions
  • My task was to disable the Menu Items “From Other Sources”, “Existing Connections” and “Connection”.
    You can disable menu items under the group policy setting:
    [Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office Excel 2007\Disable Items in User Interface\Custom\Disable Commands\
  • The Disable Commands works with ID numbers, you can find these here
    For my problem I had to disable ID’s: 11205, 12495 and 12496

    Disable Command Properties

GPP – Environment Variables

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When you’re creating a Group Policy Preference, you can use Environment Variables. A cool thing is that when you press F3, a window will open which will display all kind of Environment Variables you can use.
Wanna give it a try?

  • Open Group Policy Management Editor
  • Browse to [User Configuration], [Preferences], [Windows Settings], [Folders]
  • Create a New Folder by right clicking in the Folders Section and choosing [New], [Folder]

    image 

  • The New Folder Properties Dialog will spawn

    image

  • Select the “Path:” Section and Press F3, the [Select a Variable] dialog will spawn

    image 

Now you can select your variable.

TIP: when you want to use variables which are user dependent. Use [User Configuration] instead of [Computer Configuration].