How to upgrade management template files

        To manage Windows XP clients, administrators need to use a computer running the Windows XP operating system with an updated administrative template file (.adm) and a computer running the Windows 2000 Server operating system. As shown in Figure 1, .adm files are those that provide policy information for various projects located under the Administrative Templates folder in the Group Policy snap-in tree.
Windows XP includes the following updated administrative template files:

System.adm. Used for core settings.
Wmplayer.adm. Used for Windows Media Settings.
Conf.adm. Used by NetMeeting conferencing software.
Inetres.adm. For use by Internet Explorer.


Upgrade to the latest management template file

If you get an .adm file that is newer than a specific Group Policy Object (GPO), your computer will automatically use these newer ones. The .adm file updates the GPO. To do this, you need to place the latest version of the .adm file in the INF directory of your Windows 2000 Server-based operating system computer.

To upgrade the .adm file, please perform the following steps:

Locate the .adm file you wish to use on a computer running Windows XP. (These files are located in the Windows/INF directory.)
Copy system.adm and all other .adm files to a network file share location.
Go to a Windows 2000 Server-based computer and open a GPO in the Group Policy snap-in.
As shown in Figure 2, right-click on Administrative templates and select Add/Remove Templates from the shortcut menu that appears.



When the Add/Remove Templates dialog box appears, delete the Windows 2000-based .adm file and add the Windows XP-based .adm file.
Repeat the above steps for all Group Policy Objects (GPOs).
Best implementation

In a hybrid environment, use the Windows XP .adm file to manage your Group Policy objects.
Try to use the same policy settings for Windows XP and Windows 2000 to provide a consistent experience for users who don't have a fixed working position.
Before the actual deployment, please first test the interaction ability of various settings.
Please configure policy settings only on client computers that use Group Policy objects. There is no need to create these registry keys on other computers.