How could you edit a specific group policy using a batch file

Matt Shank picture Matt Shank · Aug 27, 2010 · Viewed 18.7k times · Source

Im working on over 700 computers in a school district and have written a small program that i intend to write to a cd. The program is set to autorun when the disk is inserted and prompt the screen resolution of the computer and what computer the building is in (the different school buildings). Afterwards the program will run a batch file that copies a default desktop from the disk and into the windows\web\wallpaper directory. It also replaces other files that have been customized for the school district.

To finish changing the theme of the computer, i need to have the file make a few edits to the group policy and the registry. How would i be able to use the program to makes these changes? Would it all be written into the batch or would the batch have to initiate another file (like a registry file)?

Answer

Ryan Bemrose picture Ryan Bemrose · Jun 30, 2011

All the group policy editor does is set registry keys. If you can identify what keys are being set for the policy you want, you can use reg.exe to set those keys.

reg.exe add HKCU\Software\path\to\regkey\ /v valuename /d newvalue