Active Directory 2003 and Group Policies....Any school admins out there?

RJ831

Posts: 77   +0
So we set up AD at our school district and all the computers have now joined the domain. The OUs are set and everything is functional. The issue I'm having is with Group Policy. I understand that there are TONS of different policies out there that can be used but I was wondering if there was like a TOP 10 policies should be used for students? I googled "top group policies for student environment" but i came up with nothing. Any school admins out there? Thanks in advance.
 
Limiting user access is probably the primary goal of GPOs in a school setting (disable task manager, deny access to certain paths/programs/hidden/system files, block certain software from running based on hashes/names, limit logins to one per user, disable auto-play for removable drives, forcing logout after so many minutes and so on).

Customization is probably secondary to most school admins (wallpaper, Internet explorer home page, favorites, menu/desktop items, etc..) and I'd say automation is a close third (installing software through scripting/automated MSI deployment), setup printers for particular OUs etc..)

Here's a link that lists two resources an a template for a school settings that you might find useful. The first two are lists of GPOs available in 2003 (really cool if you're looking for something because you can search for it). I haven't checked the template out, but the list is extensive:

http://www.schooltechnician.co.uk/k..._2000/group_policy_reference_spreadsheet.html

Windows 2003 R2 server makes things a bit easier, with more options (like a decent way to install printers), but just about anything R2 can do, vanilla 2003 can do too with some clever (or clumsy if you're like me) script hacking.

Edugeek.net might be a place of interest too. Best of luck.
 
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