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Q168231: System Policies Are Not Applied in Windows NT

Article: Q168231
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): 2000,4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbenv
Last Modified: 11-JUN-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 
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IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS
========

System policies may not be applied on Microsoft Windows NT-based computers or
Microsoft Windows 95 client computers.

CAUSE
=====

This behavior can occur if you set the value of the UpdateMode DWORD value in
the registry to "0." This setting disables the use of system policies.

In addition, if you set the same value to "0" on a Windows 2000 computer, then
the NT 4.0 domain-based system policies are not applied.

This setting may be set to a default value of zero on some Original Equipment
Manufacturer (OEM) versions of Windows NT.

RESOLUTION
==========

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems
that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot
guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor
incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Change the data value of the UpdateMode value to 1. This value is located in the
following registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update

The following table lists valid settings for the UpdateMode DWORD value.

  Setting   Description
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  0         System policies are disabled.
  1         Automatic mode. Search for a system policy file named
            Ntconfig.pol in the authenticating server's Netlogon share.
            This is the default value.
  2         Manual mode: Search for the specified system policy file in
            the location specified by the optional NetworkPath SZ value.

An UpdateMode data value of 2 requires an additional SZ value called NetworkPath
that specifies a local or network system policy path and file name.

The following samples demonstrate valid entries for the NetworkPath value:

  \\<Servername>\<Sharename>\<Filename>

  C:\<Directoryname>\<Filename>

The file name does not require a .pol extension, although you may want to do so
for file identification.

Additional query words: updated

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Keywords          : kbenv 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT400search kbwin2000Serv kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTSEntSearch kbWinNTSEnt400 kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400 kbwin2000ServSearch kbwin2000Search
Version           : :2000,4.0
Issue type        : kbprb

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