Enabling Remote Administration Via Setup Scripts
Remote administration isn't practical if you're physically enabling it on each computer. A better alternative is to plan well ahead and enable remote administration as you roll out Windows 98. You do so with custom setup scripts.

The Windows 98 CD-ROM comes with a program called Microsoft Batch 98 that you use to build a script. A script is an INF file that specifies the settings that Setup uses when installing the operating system. You can specify as few or as many settings as you like. After creating the script, you can push it to the user via his logon script, or you can have the user launch the setup program with the script as its only command line argument. You'll find Batch 98 and a variety of documentation about this program in \Tools\Reskit\Deploy on the CD-ROM.

Batch 98 is one part of the automated installation process. First you use Batch 98 to create a file called Msbatch.inf. Then you copy Msbatch.inf and the Windows 98 source files to a network share accessible by everyone installing Windows 98. You can allow users to start the installation on their own, or you can push the installation to the user in his login script or via an email message. The Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit, published by Microsoft Press, contains more information about automated installations.

To enable remote administration using a setup script, add the lines shown in Listing 13.1 to the Msbatch.inf file that the Batch Editor creates. If the sections you see in this listing already exist within the Msbatch.inf file, merely add the settings you see in this file to those sections. Set Security to either domain or server, enabling user-level security, and set PassThroughAgent to the name of the domain or server providing validation for user-level security. Server_Domain_Username indicates the group or account that has administrative rights on the computer.

Listing 13.1 Enabling Remote Administration in a Setup Script

[Install]
AddReg=Remote.Admin

[Remote.Admin]
HKLM,"Security\Access\Admin\Remote",
[ic:ccc]%Server_Domain_Username%,1,ff,00

[Network]
Security=domain | server
PassThroughAgent=provider
services=remotereg

[strings]
Server_Domain_Username="server\account"

SEE ALSO

Chapter 15, "Script, REG, and INF Files," contains more information about creating Msbatch.inf and manually updating it to modify the Registry.

Connecting to a Remote Computer's Registry
Having met the requirements for the target and administrative computers, remote administration is straightforward. You use tools you're already familiar with, but you must first connect to the remote computer. The following list describes the tools you'll learn about in this section:

• Registry Editor Use this tool to make changes to the remote computer's Registry directly.

• System Policies Editor Use this tool to make changes to the remote computer's Registry using policy templates.

• Performance Monitor Use this tool to monitor performance measurements stored in the remote computer's Registry.

• Net Watcher Use this tool to monitor user and administrative shares on a remote computer.

You can access most of these tools via Network Neighborhood. Right-click any computer in the Network Neighborhood folder, choose Properties, and click the Tools tab. Click Net Watcher to open the computer in Net Watcher. Click System Monitor to monitor the remote computer's performance. Click Administer to access the remote computer's file system in Windows Explorer.

Changing Multiple Registries at Once
To administer a Windows 98 workstation remotely, you must log onto the administrative computer using an account name that has administrative privileges on the remote computer. Your account name can be explicitly listed in the remote computer's Passwords Properties dialog box, or it can be implicitly implied by one of the groups given administrative privileges in this dialog box. In other words, the name you used to log onto your computer must jibe with a name explicitly or implicitly implied on the Remote Administration tab of the Passwords Properties dialog box on the user's computer.

Using the Registry Editor to change values on multiple computers at one time is not very convenient, particularly if you're changing values on a large number of computers at one time. Multi-Remote Registry Change is a useful program that allows you to change a value on any number of computers at one time.

Here's how it works. You select the computers you want to change from the left pane of the program's window. The program gets this list from the network's browse list. On the right side of the program's window, you specify the value you want to change. Then you turn Multi-Remote Registry Change loose as it changes that value on each networked computer you chose.

Note that this is different from using the System Policy Editor with a group of computers on the network. You use the System Policy Editor to create a Config.pol file that Windows 98 downloads from the network and loads into the user's Registry each time the user logs onto his computer. It doesn't permanently change the Registry. Also, the System Policy Editor limits you to a predefined set of Registry values you can change unless you create custom policy templates. Multi-Remote Registry Change makes permanent changes to every computer you specify, and it lets you change any Registry setting.

Does this utility sound right up your alley? If so, see Chapter 11, "Tweak UI and Other Registry Programs," which describes how to download, install, and use this program.

Registry Editor
Browsing and making changes to a remote computer's Registry requires that you install the Microsoft Remote Registry service on both the target and administrative computers. Doing so also requires that you set up user-level security and enable remote administration on the remote computer.

To connect to a remote computer's Registry, choose Registry, Connect Network Registry. Then type the name of the remote computer or click Browse to select a computer on the network. You see your computer and the remote computer in the Registry Editor, as shown in Figure 13.3.

Figure 13.3

***callouts:
1. Local computer
2. Remote computer***

You can connect to more than one Registry at a time.

After you've connected to the remote computer's Registry, everything works as usual. For example, you can add and remove Registry keys, and you can add, remove, and change value entries. Just make sure that you're selecting keys and value entries on the proper computer. Otherwise, you might change a Registry key on your own computer when you really intended to change a key on the remote computer.

Changing settings in a remote computer's Registry is no less dangerous than changing settings in your own Registry. Windows 98 implements no Registry security whatsoever. Thus, the remote user's entire Registry is at your disposal. Review the precautions you learned in Chapter 1, "Inside the Windows 98 Registry," before making any changes to another user's Registry.

SEE ALSO

For more information about using the Registry Editor, see Chapter 3, "Using the Windows 98 Registry Editor."

System Policy Editor
Since the System Policy Editor changes the Registry just the same as the Registry Editor, it has the same requirements. You must install the Microsoft Remote Registry service on both the target and administrative computers. Doing so also requires that you set up user-level security and enable remote administration on the remote computer.

To launch System Policy Editor, choose Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Policy Editor. Figure 13.4 shows you what the Policy Editor looks like. The background window is the Policy Editor itself. The foreground window, which pops up when you double-click one of the icons in the Policy Editor, contains the actual policies for the selected user or computer. To connect to a remote computer, choose File, Connect. Type the name of the computer to which you want to connect, and click OK.

The System Policy Editor isn't part of Windows 98's source files; thus the setup program doesn't install it by default. You find it on the Windows 98 CD-ROM, however, in \Tools\Reskit\Netadmin\Poledit. Chapter 14, "Profiles, System Policies, and the Registry," contains more information.

Figure 13.4


***callouts:
1. Policies
2. Input area changes for the selected policy***

If the remote computer uses user profiles, you'll see an icon for each user who logs onto that computer.

The System Policy Editor works in two modes. You can create a policy file called Config.pol that Windows 98 automatically downloads from the network. Windows 98 merges the Registry settings found in the policy file with the user's existing Registry, overriding the user's settings with the settings contained in the policy file. Alternatively, you can use the System Policy Editor in Registry mode, which allows you to connect to a remote computer's Registry and make immediate changes.

SEE ALSO

See Chapter 14, "Profiles, System Policies, and the Registry," to learn more about applying system policies to groups of users, individual users, or individual computers on the network.

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | Next Chapter