How do I implement local system policies on Windows 9x?

A. System policies are normally located at domain controllers however local system policies can be implemented as follows. First you will need the Windows 9x poledit.exe tool which is located in the

• Admin\Apptools\Poledit folder on the Windows 95 CD
• Tools\Reskit\Netadmin\Poledit folder on the Windows 98 CD

You should use the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel to install System Policy Editor.

Once you have the utility you should proceed as follows:

1. Click the Start button, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type "poledit" (without quotation marks), and then click OK.
3. In System Policy Editor, click Open Registry on the File menu.
4. Double-click the Local Computer icon, then the Network icon, and then double-click the Update icon.
5. Click the Remote Update check box, and then click Manual in the Update Mode box. In the Path box, type the path and file name for your system policy file. You can place this file in any folder on the hard disk. Click OK. This file MUST have a .pol extension or you will receive a failuer in step 8.
6. On the File menu, click Save. On the File menu, click New File.
7. Select the system policy settings you want to use.
8. On the File menu, click Save As. Save the file with the name and path you used in step 5.
9. Quit System Policy Editor, and then restart Windows.

It would be pertinent to remove Poledit after you've set the policy to avoid users changing it. You can even run poledit directly from the CD normally.

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