Overriding device installation policies

As described in previous tips, Vista has a number of new Group Policy settings that let you prevent new devices from being installed or existing devices from having their drivers updated. You can control this for all devices or for specific device setup class GUIDs or PnP device IDs. And all these policies apply by default to local administrators on the machine as well.

If you would rather allow local administrators to have the ability to install new devices and update drivers for existing devices regardless of the device installation restrictions you have applied to the system, you can do this as follows using local Group Policy:

1. Type gpedit.msc in the Start Search box and hit Enter.

2. Click Continue when the UAC prompt appears.

3. Navigate to the following policy location:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Device Installation Restrictions

4. Enable the following policy setting:

Allow administrators to override device installation policy

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch, MVP
http://www.mtit.com