I have a Win2008 R2 Forest/Domain with Win7 and a few XP machines. Also have Windows 2000 -> Windows 2012 Servers

We use ADM files currently for GPO's.

I want to create a central store, no problem here. However, it will be for Lync2013 only first.

1. Can I create the PolicyDefinitions folder and only add in the Lync.admx and .adml files and not worry about any other current GPO's for Win7 / XP / Servers etc being affected?

2. Can I then copy all the Windows 7 / 2008 R2 admx and adml files (downloaded from Microsoft, OR copied from my own local Policy Definitions folder OR both??) into the said Central Store and none of the other GPO's for Win7 / XP / Servers / Office 2010 etc with adm templates etc added being affected. (we all use Win7 boxes for GPO administration)

My research suggests that the answer for both is Yes. :-)

Thanks

If you set up the policy definitions folder, you will need to load all ADMX files into it. The central store won't actually affect any GPOs, it just changes the location of the definitions.

ADM files won't be altered by the central store. They will still exist within that GPOs folder in SYSVOL. This link might provide a better explanation:

http://deployhappiness.com/creating-the-group-policy-central-store/

Let me know if you have questions!

thanks, 

so I can't just do the Lync2013 one?

You will need to do them all. But don't worry, it isn't a really big deal to copy them all over. If it causes any issues, just rename the policydefinitions folder in SYSVOL, close GPMC, and reopen it. Your machine will start looking locally again.

Thanks Joseph. I'll get the Change approved and try it out. I'll let you know tomorrow.

(good choice on not doing roofing :-))

When you say 'All' you mean from my own local store and the ones downloaded from Microsoft?. There are other administrators doing GPO's from their local machine, does this matter?

Actually, I've noticed that the ones on my local c:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions are older (2009) than the ones I've downloaded from Microsoft (2010)

What should I do?

You can download the updated ADMX templates here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=6243

It didn't take long to figure out that manual labor wasn't for me. :)

does it matter the admx files on my local pc are older (2009)? - should I copy up them OR the more recent ones from microsoft download (2010) (as you have listed)

Seems it doesn't matter. All copied up succesfully. Thanks Joseph for your help!