Prevent software restriction policies from applying to local administrators

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To prevent software restriction policies from applying to local administrators

Open Software Restriction Policies.
In the details pane, double-click Enforcement.
Under Apply software restriction policies to the following users, click All users except local administrators.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure.
To open Software Restriction Policies, see "Open Software Restriction Policies" in Related Topics.
It may be necessary to create a new software restriction policy setting for the Group Policy object (GPO) if you have not already done so. For information about how to create new software restriction policies, see Related Topics.
If it is common for users to be members of the local Administrators group on their computers in your organization, you may not want to enable this option.
If you are defining a software restriction policy setting for your local computer, use this procedure to prevent local administrators from having software restriction policies applied to them. If you are defining a software restriction policy setting for your network, filter user policy settings based on membership in security groups through Group Policy. For more information about Group Policy, see Related Topics.

Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.