Office Communicator 2007 Group Policy Settings
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.
One way to provide the appropriate registry settings for each user when deploying Office Communicator 2007 is to define Group Policies using an administrative template (.adm) file. Administrative template files contain specific information about which Group Policies the application implements, where policies are stored, and how to configure policies.
To define Group Policies using the Communicator 2007 administrative template file
Copy the Communicator.adm file from your distribution disk to the %windir%/inf folder.
Use the Microsoft Management Console Group Policy Object Editor to enable or disable specific policy settings.
Group Policy Precedence
Some Communicator 2007 features and behaviors can be configured by the administrator using Office Communications Server 2007 in-band provisioning, or by the user through the Communicator 2007 Options dialog box. However, Group Policies take precedence over both of these methods.
Table 12 summarizes the order in which settings take precedence when a conflict occurs.
Table 12. Order of precedence for Group Policies, in-band provisioning, and Options dialog box settings
| Precedence | Location or Method of Setting |
|---|---|
1 |
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator |
2 |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator |
3 |
Office Communications Server 2007 in-band provisioning |
4 |
Communicator 2007 Options dialog box |
Group Policy Changes and Additions
You can deploy Communicator 2007 Group Policies without affecting users who are running Communicator 2005. This section discusses the differences and similarities between Communicator 2007 Group Policies and the Group Policies used in Communicator 2005.
Changes and additions are summarized in the following tables.
New Group Policies
Changed or Superseded Polices
Obsolete Communicator 2005 policies
Policies unchanged in Communicator 2007
The primary reference for current Group Policies is the Office Communicator 2007: Communicator 2007 Policies Documentation, which contains a full definition and values for each policy.
Table 13. New Group Policies
| Policy Name | Definition |
|---|---|
AutoDiscoveryRetryInterval |
Set time interval to retry a failed automatic connection to the server. |
CalendarStatePublicationInterval |
Frequency of updates to presence from Outlook Calendar. |
CallLogAutoArchivingPolicy |
Controls saving of call logs to the Outlook Conversation History folder. |
ConfiguredServerCheckValues |
List of additional servers for logging on. |
CustomStateURL |
Configure up to four custom presence states. |
DGRefreshPeriod |
Interval for updating distribution groups from the address book. |
DGUrlExternal |
External address book location. |
DGUrlInternal |
Internal address book location. |
DisableAVConferencing |
Supersedes DisableVideo. (See also DisablePC2PCVideo.) |
DisableCalendarPresence |
Disables the loading of free or busy data from the Outlook messaging and collaboration client, and prevents this data from being published. (Replaces DisableCalendarState.) |
DisableConversationWindowTabs |
Disable display of custom Conversation window extensions. |
DisableDataConferencing |
(Replaces DisableCollaborationApps.) |
DisableEmailComparisonCheck |
Disable comparison of SMTP address with Outlook user profile. |
DisableFederatedPromptDisplayName |
Show the sign-in name or SIP address of federated contacts. |
DisableFreeBusyInfo |
Controls display of free or busy status from Outlook. |
DisableHttpConnect |
Disable the HTTP connection fallback option. |
DisableICE |
Affects the ability to establish voice or video calls behind a firewall or Network Address Translation (NAT) layer. |
DisableMeetingSubjectAndLocation |
Prevents Communicator from publishing the subject and location information of a meeting. This value is not used if DisableCalendarPresence is set, or if the Update my status based on calendar data option on the Personal tab is not set. |
DisableOneNote12Integration |
Shows or hides the OneNote 2007 command in the Conversation window. |
DisableOnlineContextualSearch |
Removes the Find Previous Conversations command and disables display of the previous conversations. |
DisablePC2PCVideo |
Disables peer-to-peer video calls. Supersedes DisableVideo. (See also DisableAVConferencing.) |
DisablePICPromptDisplayName |
Controls the display of the sign-in name or SIP address of public internet connectivity (PIC) contacts. |
DisableRTFIM |
Disables rich text in instant messages. |
DisableServerCheck |
Controls the sign-in check for server name and version. |
DisableSimultaneousRinging |
Disables the Unified Communications Enterprise Voice feature Simultaneously Ring an Additional Number. |
EnableAppearOffline |
Users can choose Appear Offline from the Presence menu. |
EnableEventLogging |
Turns on logging of certain errors to the Windows Event log, and disables the user interface for this feature. |
EnableSQMData |
(Replaces CEIP.) Enables the Customer Improvement Program option and disables the user interface for this feature. |
EnableStrictDNSNaming |
(Replaces DisableStrictDNSNaming.) Controls how Communicator interacts with SIP servers that have non-standard FQDNs. |
EnableTracing |
Creates a log for troubleshooting signaling failures, and disables the user interface for this feature. |
ExUMEnabled |
Identify user account as enabled for voice mail. |
IMAutoArchivingPolicy |
Controls archiving of instant messages to the Outlook 2007 Conversation History folder, and disables the user interface for this feature. |
LocationProfile |
Configures a user's default location profile. |
MapiPollInterval |
Frequency of loading calendar data from MAPI. |
MRASServerURI |
Location of the Media Relay Access server. |
msRTCLine |
Line information for Unified Communications Enterprise Voice. |
NotificationsForNewSubscribers |
Controls notifications received when a user is added to another user's contact list, and disables the user interface for this feature. |
TelephonyMode |
Configures telephony for Communicator 2007. |
VoicemailURI |
Location of custom voice mail server. |
WebServicePollInterval |
Frequency of loading calendar data from the Web services provider. |
Table 14 lists the policies that have been changed or superseded in this release.
Table 14. Changed or Superseded Policies
| Title | Definition |
|---|---|
CEIP |
See EnableSQMData. |
DisableCollaborationApps |
See DisableDataConferencing. |
DisablePC2PCAudio |
See TelephonyMode. |
DisableStrictDNSNaming |
See EnableStrictDNSNaming. |
DisableVideo |
See DisablePC2PCVideo and DisableAVConferencing. |
Table 15 lists Communicator 2005 policies that are no longer used.
Table 15. Obsolete Communicator 2005 Policies
ConfigurationMode/MaximumNumberOfExtensions |
ConfigurationMode/PBXPhoneDomain |
DisableCRLChecking |
DisableLiveMeetingIntegration |
EnableConferencingService |
EnablePC2Phone (superseded by TelephonyMode) |
EnablePhoneControl (superseded by TelephonyMode) |
EnableRemoteAssistance |
PortRange/MinMediaPort |
PortRange/MinSipDynamicPort |
Table 16 lists policies that have not changed in Communicator 2007.
Table 16. Policies Unchanged in Communicator 2007
ABSInsideURL |
ABSOutsideURL |
ABSUseFallback |
AllowUnencryptedFileTransfer |
BlockIMFromFederatedContacts |
ConfigurationMode |
DisableEmoticons |
DisableFileTransfer |
DisableInkIM |
DisableNTCredentials |
DisablePresenceNote |
DisableSavingIM |
EnableSIPHighSecurityMode |
EnableUPNP |
EnableURL |
HelpMenu |
HelpMenuText |
HelpMenuURL |
IMWarning |
MaxAudioVideoBitrate |
MaximumNumberOfContacts |
PC2PCAVEncryption |
PortRange/Enabled |
PortRange/MaxMediaPort |
PortRange/MaxSipDynamicPort |
PreventRun |
SavePassword |
TabURL |
TourLaunch |
TourLaunch /TourURL |
TourLaunch/TourLaunchMode |