Use the Internet Explorer Maintenance Extension

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After you deploy the custom Internet Explorer package that you created using the Internet Explorer 7 Customization Wizard, if you are a corporate administrator and use the Active Directory directory service in your organization, you can use the Internet Explorer Maintenance extension (IEM) in Group Policy (Gpedit.msc) to manage Internet Explorer settings for users and computers in a given Group Policy object (GPO).

Important

For computers running Windows Vista, you should use Administrative Templates in Group Policy to fully manage policies.

The method for starting Group Policy depends on the type of group that you want to administer. For more information about starting Group Policy, see the in-product Help for this tool and the Group Policy Object Editor Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=68957). For more information about using IEM, see the in-product Help for this tool and the Internet Explorer Maintenance Extension Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=68956).

To use IEM to maintain Internet Explorer

  1. Open Group Policy using one of the ways described in the Group Policy product documentation (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=67717). The method you use will depend on the object that you want to manage.

  2. In Group Policy, double-click <Group_Policy_object_name> Policy, double-click User Configuration, double-click Windows Settings, and then click Internet Explorer Maintenance.

  3. In the left pane, click the category you want to work with, and then in the right pane, double-click the item you want to edit.

Note

You must be a member of the Administrators group to work with IEM and Group Policy objects.

If you are using the OEM Preinstallation Kit, you can use the Internet Explorer 7 Customization Wizard to customize Windows XP before deployment.

If you are using Windows unattended Setup, you can use IEAK Profile Manager to generate files needed for branding the browser. For more information, consult your Windows documentation.

You can use Group Policy in Windows XP to export all of the Internet Explorer settings to an .ins file, and if necessary, to cabinet (.cab) files. These settings can then be used to automatically configure computers that run other operating systems.

To export the settings from your computer to an .ins file using IEM

  1. In Group Policy, double-click Local Computer Policy, double-click User Configuration, and then double-click Windows Settings.

  2. Right-click Internet Explorer Maintenance, and then click Export Browser Settings.

  3. Enter the location and name of the .ins file that you want to use.

Additional references