A new post on the Ask the Directory Service Team blog has just announced a new hotfix that addresses an Access Denied issue when using Group Policy Preferences to schedule a task. KB2447414 – User GPP Scheduled Task item fails to apply and logs event id: 4098 with 0x80070005 "Access is denied."

Ever wanted to know how Group Policy all works… Well Microsoft has a poster for you.!!! Stick it up at your desk at work to impress you co-workers or just stare at it all day trying to figure out what it all means…. For this poster and a whole lot more go to Jorge ‘s Quest For Knowledge!

A new Windows Vista / 2008 Group Policy Preference client side extension hotfix rollup has been released. Below I have listed the details of the hotfix including a complete list of all issues it resolved. KB977983 – Group Policy preferences client-side extension hotfix rollup for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 New Issues Resolved You cannot create a GPP folder…

The guys at the Ask the Directory Services Team blog have just published the list of latest Directory Services related hotfixes ( see http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2010/10/18/new-directory-services-content-10-10-10-16.aspx ). For your convenience I have put in a direct link and a short description for the two Group Policy related hotfixes. KB2379592 – "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error message…

  Back in the days of Windows XP IT administrators could disable the local administrator account on domain joined computers but still be able to use the account if they rebooted the computer into safe mode (see How to access the computer after you disable the administrator account ). To log on to Windows by using the disabled local Administrator…

The below article shows you how to use Group Policy Preference to setup the registry keys on a computer so that it automatically logs onto when its turned on. While doing this is potentially huge security issue and not something I would generally recommend IT staff might want to implement on computers that are highly locked down and used for…

Microsoft have just announced they will allow small business with less that 10 seats to use Microsoft Security Essentials for free. But even having to configured 10 copies of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) can be a pain so below is a quick tutorial on how you can Group Policy Enable Microsoft Security Essentials. Update: Microsoft have now updated their Microsoft…

On my recent trip to New Zealand to speak a TechEd 2010 I managed to record a podcast with Richard Campbell for the RunAs Radio podcast. The conversation explores how group policy can now be used to map drives, printers and other features, leading to the virtual elimination of login scripts. If you would like to listen to the podcast…