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help! Group Policy restricted the Admin

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5 replies

by dmr724

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we're running a terminal server for a classroom, so i decided to lock down the
user interface so the students can't mess things up. I created a group policy
under AD Users and Computers. The Policy doesn't allow them to access anything except a few applications. They have limited access on the Start Menu. They cannot access the Setting Menu nor the Administration Menu.
The Group Policy applies to the whole domain.

The problem is that the Policy also applies to the Administrator account. I forgot to remove him from the Authenticated Users group. ( I could have also checked off the "Deny" box so the policy won't apply.) Now I'm stuck. The Administrator can't even change the policy or even get into ANY snap-ins. The Run menu is also removed. What can i do to regain control of my server?

5 replies

by tony.colgrove

2 ways pop to mind. If you can still access folders through My Computer goto c:\winnt\system32 and double click the mmc.exe. Add the AD users and computer snap-in and edit the policy.
Or if you can open IE, just type C:\winnt\system32\mmc.exe into the address line.

by dmr724

I can access folders thru My Computer. But the policy restricts users from any snap-ins. The MMC is a snap-in, however you access it. I also tried rebooting into recovery safe mode but it appears that AD is not accessible in safe mode. Any othersuggestions?

by kimoppalfens

Policies are normally put in the sysvol folder with an .pol extension if I am not mistaken. try deleting the policy or renaming the extension.

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