Group Policy "Don't Save Settings At Exit Policy" Does Not Perform as Expected

ID: Q225630

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

SUMMARY

When you use the System Policy Editor tool to assign the "Don't save settings on exit" policy to a Windows NT 4.0 group, some settings may not be saved when a user logs off their computer.

For example, a user can save screen colors, backgrounds, shortcuts placed on the desktop, and so forth. However, they may not be able to save changes made to the position and size of the taskbar, open windows, or the position of icons on the desktop.

MORE INFORMATION

Windows NT 4.0

This behavior is by design. Mandatory profiles can be instituted to control other aspects of the user's desktop. For more information on creating and using system policies, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q159936 Using the Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95 System Policy Editor

On Windows 2000

The policy is located in the UserConfiguration/AdministrativeTemplate/Desktop folder of the Default Domain policy. The explanation of the policy is listed above. After implementing the policy, confirm that some changes are saved. For example, placing an icon on the desktop. This is the expected result of the policy.

For additional information about Windows 2000 policies, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/server/Deploy/management/GroupPolicyWT/default.asp

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbtool ntdomain kbbug4.00 kbbug5.00
Version : WINDOWS:2000; winnt:4.0
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbbug kbinfo