Windows Settings Node
In both the Computer Configuration and the User Configuration nodes, the Windows Settings node (shown in Figure 10-3) contains the Scripts extension and the Security Settings node.
The Scripts extension allows you to specify two types of scripts: startup/shutdown (in the Computer Configuration node) and logon/logoff (in the User Configuration node). Startup/shutdown scripts run at computer startup or shutdown. Logon/logoff scripts run when a user logs on or off the computer. When you assign multiple logon/logoff or startup/shutdown scripts to a user or computer, Windows Server 2003 executes the scripts from top to bottom. You can determine the order of execution for multiple scripts in the Properties dialog box. When a computer is shut down, Windows Server 2003 first processes logoff scripts, followed by shutdown scripts. By default, the timeout value for processing scripts is 10 minutes. If the logoff and shutdown scripts require more than 10 minutes to process, you must adjust the timeout value with a software mcitp 2008 policy. You can use any ActiveX scripting language to write scripts. Some possibilities include Microsoft Visual Basic, Scripting Edition (VBScript), Microsoft JScript, Perl, and MS-DOS style batch files (.bat and .cmd).
Logon scripts on a shared network directory in another forest are supported for network logon across forests. This is a new feature of the Windows Server 2003 family.
The Security Settings node allows a security administrator to manually configure security levels assigned to a local or nonlocal GPO. This can be clone after, or instead of, using a security template to set system security. For a detailed discussion of system security and the Security Settings node, refer to Chapter 13, “Administering Security with Group Policy.”
In the User Configuration node only, the Windows Settings folder contains the additional nodes Remote Installation Services, Folder Redirection, and Internet Explorer Maintenance. Remote Installation Services (RIS) is used to control the behavior of a remote operating system installation. Optionally, RIS can be used to provide custom?ized packages for non—Windows Server 2003 clients of Active Directory. (Group Policy requires a genuine Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 client, not merely a preWindows 2000 client of Active Directory, however.) Folder Redirection allows you to redirect Windows Server 2003 special folders (Application Data, Desktop, My Documents, and Start Menu) from their default user profile location to an alternate location on the network, where they can be centrally managed. For details on folder redirection, refer to free exam question papers, “Administering Group Policy.” Internet Explorer Maintenance allows you to administer and customize Microsoft Internet Explorer on computers running Windows Server 2003.