Using the System Policy Editor

Article
02/20/2014

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Setting System Policies for Your Organization

You can use the System Policy Editor to control which Microsoft® Project 2002 options are available to your users. You can create system policies and easily distribute the settings from a central administrative installation point.

The System Policy Editor you use with Microsoft Project is the same one you use with Office XP; you may download it from the Microsoft Project 2002 Resource Kit Toolbox. The Microsoft Project 2002 Resource Kit Toolbox also includes the Microsoft Project 2002 system policy template. You must install the System Policy Editor and the template on your computer before you can create a system policy file.

For more information, see System Policy Editor and Templates in the Deployment and Administration Tools section of the resource kit toolbox.

When you create a system policy file for a client computer, you must run the System Policy Editor on the same operating system that the client computer is running. For example, to create a policy file for Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 clients, you must run the System Policy Editor on either a Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 computer because Windows 98 and Windows NT operating systems have different registries.

Create a New Policy File

When you use the System Policy Editor to create system policies, you first choose the template and create a new policy file, and then you set policies for your users. You cannot add a template after you have created the policy file. Make sure to add in your policy file every policy template you plan to use.

To create a new policy file

Start the System Policy Editor.

On the Options menu, click Policy Template, and then click Add to select the Microsoft Project 2002 template.

On the File menu, click New Policy to create a new policy file.

Add Users, Groups, or Computers to the Policy File

System policies can apply to all users, to a specific user, or to a group of users. They can also apply to a single computer or to all the computers on your network.

The Default User icon and the Default Computer icon are included in your policy file. To apply a system policy to all the users or all the computers on your network, start the System Policy Editor, and then double-click the Default User or Default Computer icon.

You can also add specific users, computers, or groups to your policy file by using the Add User, Add Computer, and Add Group commands on the Edit menu in the System Policy Editor. When you add a user, computer, or group, a new icon appears in the System Policy Editor. Use this icon to set policies for the new user, computer, or group.

After you've selected the users, groups, or computers to whom your policy applies, you set the policy or policies you want by using the corresponding Properties dialog box in the System Policy Editor.

Sometimes a user is a member of more than one group. To avoid potential conflicts between group policies, you can set relative priorities so that group policies are applied in a particular order. To set group priorities, click Group Priority (on the Options menu) in the System Policy Editor.

Set the Policy

In the System Policy Editor, when you double-click one of the user, group, or computer icons, the Properties dialog box appears, listing the available system policies. You scroll through the list of categories in the Properties dialog box to find the policy you want. You expand or collapse categories by clicking the plus sign (+) or minus sign (-), similar to expanding or collapsing folders in Windows Explorer.

When you find the policy you want, you set the policy by selecting the check box next to the policy name. After you select the policy you want, you must specify additional information under Settings to determine what is enforced by the policy. The following example shows you how to set a simple policy in Microsoft Project 2002.

To set a policy for the recently used file list in Microsoft Project 2002

Start the System Policy Editor.

Double-click the Default User icon.

In the Default User Properties dialog box, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Project 2002.

Click the plus sign next to Tools | Options.

Click the plus sign next to General.

Click the plus sign next to General Options for Microsoft Project.

Select the Recently used file list check box.

Under Settings for Recently used file list, enter 5 in the Number of entries list box.

Save and Distribute the Policy File

After you set the policy values you want, you are ready to save and distribute the policy file. For Windows98 clients, save the policy file as Config.pol. For Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP clients, save the policy file as Ntconfig.pol.

You will need to store the policy file on the network, where it can be downloaded to users' computers when they log on.

For networks running Windows NT Server, copy Config.pol or Ntconfig.pol to the Netlogon folder of the primary domain controller, as defined for your client computers. When your users next log on, the system policies are automatically downloaded to their computers and their registry settings are updated with the policy settings.