Introduction

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 introduce a new format for displaying registry-based policy settings. Registry-based policy settings (located under the Administrative Templates category in the Group Policy Object Editor) are defined using a standards-based, XML file format, known as ADMX files. These new files replace ADM files, which used their own markup language. The administrative tools you use—the Group Policy Object Editor and the Group Policy Management Console—remain largely unchanged. In the majority of situations, you will not notice the presence of ADMX files during your day-to-day Group Policy administration tasks.

There are some situations that require an understanding of how ADMX files are structured and the location where they are stored. This guide introduces you to ADMX files, showing you how ADMX files are incorporated when editing Administrative Template policy settings in a local or domain-based Group Policy object (GPO). ADMX files provide an XML-based structure for defining the display of the Administrative Template policy settings in the Group Policy Object Editor. You need to be using a Windows Vista-based or Windows Server 2008-based computer in order for the Group Policy Object Editor to recognize the ADMX files.

Unlike ADM files, ADMX files are not stored in individual GPOs by default; however, this behavior is supported for less common scenarios. For domain-based enterprises, administrators can create a central store location of ADMX files accessible by anyone with permission to create or edit GPOs. Group Policy tools will continue to recognize other earlier ADM files you have in your existing environment. Specifically, any custom ADM files will be consumed by Group Policy tools. (The tools will exclude ADM files that were included by default in the operating system, such as System.adm and Inetres.adm, because the ADMX files supersede these files.) The Group Policy Object Editor automatically reads and displays Administrative Template policy settings from both the ADMX and ADM files.

This guide covers two different scenarios to highlight the potential differences in the ADMX storage location and Group Policy tools needed when working with local and domain-based GPOs.