Samba Primary Domain Controller with Group Policies

Currently Samba does not implement Microsoft's Active Directory Group Policy Objects, which is what allows you to control Windows Desktops from Active Directory. However, one of the first implementations of this functionality, Microsoft's System Policy Editor, still works quite well with Samba. This page will show you how to use the System Policy Editor, along with updated, custom policies to allow you to control Windows XP Clients when using Samba as a Primary Domain Controller.

Name: Samba
HomePage: http://www.samba.org/
Function: Samba is a suite of programs that enables interoperability between Linux/Unix servers and Windows client

 

1. Download the following files from

http://www.dabcc.com

Policy Editor

common.adm

winnt.adm

There are various other adm templates there that you can use, but for the time being this is all we are going to use.

2. Now download custom.adm file from

http://www.pcc-services.com/

3. Find the file "poleidt.exe" and copy it to the 'C:\Windows' directory (or equivalent)
 
4. Find files with the extension "*.adm" and copy them to the C:\Windows\inf directory (or equivalent)
 
5. Run "poledit.exe"

6. Once in poledit.exe go to the 'options' menu then choose 'policy template' and add all the *.adm files you have download.

7. Go through all the options on both the user policies and the machine policies. Once your happy with the settings save the policy to \\samba-pdc-server\netlogon\ and call the file NTConfig.POL

8. Then it's a simple matter of logging onto one of your XP machines and seeing if all the settings are working.