Admin Tips
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        Overriding device installation policies

Section(s): Administration
Published on Aug 08, 2006.
Last Modified on Aug 08, 2006.
Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
Rated 5 out of 5 based on 1 votes.

Admins on Vista machines are also subject to device installation restrictions, but you can change this.

As described in previous tips, Vista has a number of new Group Policy settings that let you prevent new devices from being installed or existing devices from having their drivers updated. You can control this for all devices or for specific device setup class GUIDs or PnP device IDs. And all these policies apply by default to local administrators on the machine as well.

If you would rather allow local administrators to have the ability to install new devices and update drivers for existing devices regardless of the device installation restrictions you have applied to the system, you can do this as follows using local Group Policy:

1. Type gpedit.msc in the Start Search box and hit Enter.

2. Click Continue when the UAC prompt appears.

3. Navigate to the following policy location:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Device Installation Restrictions

4. Enable the following policy setting:

Allow administrators to override device installation policy

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch, MVP
http://www.mtit.com

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch was lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch was also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008 and technical project lead for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit, both books also from Microsoft Press. For more information on these and other books by Mitch, see www.mtit.com .