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For a while I have been going to each computer and unchecking/checking a couple of boxes in the Internet Explorer’s Internet Options. We would needed to turn of the annoying “Reuse windows for launching shortcuts” option and allowing AutoComplete to work as we wanted. There are not policies in AD to manage these options. So finally I decided to research and automate this process.

ADM files create a registry setting that is not stored in a policies key and thus considered a preference. Therefore it the Group Policy Object that implements this setting is ever removed, this setting will remain.

The .adm file is stored in the C:\WINDOWS\inf directory.

I have created one ADM file named “rhb.adm” that contains two different policies:

1. Reuse Windows for launching Shortcuts
2. AutoComplete

Next I went to the Default Domain Policy and right-clicked on User Configuration/Administrative Templates -> add Templates and added the rbh.adm template.

The template created a folder named “Custom IE Settings”. At first it did not show anything but after turning off the checkbox under View -> Filtering “Only show policy settings that can be fully managed” the two policies appeared.

Actual ADM file:

CLASS USER

;Turn off so that the windows are not reused to open shortcuts

CATEGORY “Custom IE Settings”

POLICY “Reuse Windows for launching shortcuts”
KEYNAME “Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main”
PART “Reuse Windows for launching shortcuts” CHECKBOX
KEYNAME “Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main”
VALUENAME AllowWindowReuse
VALUEON NUMERIC 1
VALUEOFF NUMERIC 0

END PART ;
END POLICY ;Reuse Windows for launching shortcuts
;AutoComplete Settings for IE

KEYNAME “Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main”
POLICY !!AutoCompletePol
PART !!AutoComplete CHECKBOX
KEYNAME “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoComplete”
VALUENAME “Append Completion”
VALUEON “yes”
VALUEOFF “no”
END PART

PART !!AutoCompleteIntegrated CHECKBOX
KEYNAME “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoComplete”
VALUENAME “Use AutoComplete”
VALUEON “yes”
VALUEOFF “no”
DEFCHECKED
END PART

PART !!WebComplete CHECKBOX
KEYNAME “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoComplete”
VALUENAME AutoSuggest
DEFCHECKED
VALUEON “yes”
VALUEOFF “no”
END PART

PART !!FormSuggest CHECKBOX
VALUENAME “Use FormSuggest”
VALUEON “yes”
VALUEOFF “no”
END PART

PART !!FormSuggestPW CHECKBOX
VALUENAME “FormSuggest Passwords”
VALUEON “yes”
VALUEOFF “no”
END PART

PART !!FormSuggestPWAsk CHECKBOX
VALUENAME “FormSuggest PW Ask”
VALUEON “yes”
VALUEOFF “no”
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY ;Custom IE Settings

[strings]
AutoCompleteCat=”AutoComplete”
AutoCompletePol=”AutoComplete Settings”
AutoComplete=”Use inline AutoComplete for Web addresses”
AutoCompleteIntegrated=”Use inline AutoComplete in Windows Explorer”
WebComplete=”Use AutoComplete for Web addresses”
FormSuggest=”Use AutoComplete for forms”
FormSuggestPW=”Use AutoComplete for user names and passwords on forms”
FormSuggestPWAsk=”Prompt to save passwords”