Help: How to Stop Users for Installing Software: Rule or GPO

[nubull98]

Help,

I need to stop users from installing software on the clients. I believe
there is a rule or GPO which will do this.

Currently no user had Admin or poweruser roles, however some users have
still been able to install some software, games, updates and patches. How can
I stop this?

Any help is appreciated.

[Jerry zhao (MSFT)]

Hi,

Nice to hear from you.

From your description, I understand that you would like to prohibit
software installation by central control. If I have misunderstood your
concern, please let me know.

According to my experience, there is no native way in SBS to achieve this
goal. However, you can prohibit user from install some application which
use windows installer. To do so:

Open Server Management > Group Policy Management > forest > domains, expand
to your domain name, right click default domain policy, select edit
Expand computer configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows
Components > windows installer

You can set Disables or restricts the use of Windows Installer option in
the right frame.

This setting can prevent users from installing software on their systems or
permit users to install only those programs offered by a system
administrator.

If you enable this setting, you can use the options in the Disable Windows
Installer box to establish an installation setting.

-- The "Never" option indicates Windows Installer is fully enabled. Users
can install and upgrade software. This is the default behavior for Windows
Installer on Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional when the
policy is not configured.

-- The "For non-managed apps only" option permits users to install only
those programs that a system administrator assigns (offers on the desktop)
or publishes (adds them to Add or Remove Programs). This is the default
behavior of Windows Installer on Windows Server 2003 family when the policy
is not configured.

-- The "Always" option indicates that Windows Installer is disabled.

This setting affects Windows Installer only. It does not prevent users from
using other methods to install and upgrade programs.

To learn the general information about GPO, you can see the following
technical articles for more detail about Group Policy:

Introduction to Windows 2000 Group Policy
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14958

Enterprise Management with the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=8630

Administering Group Policy with GPMC
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14320

Troubleshooting Group Policy
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14949

Group Policy Infrastructure
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14950

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or if you need
further assistance. I'm glad to be of service.

Best regards,

Jerry Zhao (MSFT)

Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

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