6 Appendix A: Product Behavior
The information in this specification is applicable to the following Microsoft products or supplemental software. References to product versions include updates to those products.
Windows NT operating system
Windows 2000 operating system
Windows XP operating system
Windows Server 2003 operating system
Windows Vista operating system
Windows Server 2008 operating system
Windows 7 operating system
Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system
Windows 8 operating system
Windows Server 2012 operating system
Windows 8.1 operating system
Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system
Windows 10 operating system
Windows Server 2016 operating system
Windows Server operating systemÂ
Windows Server 2019 operating system
Windows Server 2022 operating system
Windows 11 operating system
Windows Server 2025 operating system
Exceptions, if any, are noted in this section. If an update version, service pack or Knowledge Base (KB) number appears with a product name, the behavior changed in that update. The new behavior also applies to subsequent updates unless otherwise specified. If a product edition appears with the product version, behavior is different in that product edition.
Unless otherwise specified, any statement of optional behavior in this specification that is prescribed using the terms "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" implies product behavior in accordance with the SHOULD or SHOULD NOT prescription. Unless otherwise specified, the term "MAY" implies that the product does not follow the prescription.
<1> Section 1.9: The Tool Extension GUID value of {0F6B957E-509E-11D1-A7CC-0000F87571E3} and {0F6B957D-509E-11D1-A7CC-0000F87571E3} for User and Computer respectively are written to the GPO by the Administrative Plug-In tools that is part of the following releases of Windows:
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
Windows Vista
<2> Section 1.9: When a GPO is modified, the Tool Extension GUID value of {D02B1F73-3407-48AE-BA88-E8213C6761F1} and {D02B1F72-3407-48AE-BA88-E8213C6761F1} for User and Computer respectively are written to the GPO by the Administrative Plug-In tools. These tools are not included in the following releases of Windows:
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
Windows Vista
<3> Section 2.2.1: Windows can only interpret substrings of the string data of type 0x02 as a system environment variable if those substrings are enclosed by two "%" characters. This does not affect how the data is stored in the local registry by the protocol; but applications on the client that query for this data from the local registry attempt to resolve the environment variables for data of this type to correctly enforce the behavior of the policy setting represented by the value.
<4> Section 2.2.2.1.1: The supported ADM version value for policy administration plug-ins shipped with Windows is as follows:
Windows 95 operating system: Version value of 1.
Windows NT Server 4.0 operating system: Version values in the range of 1 to 2.
Windows 2000: Version values in the range of 1 to 3.
Windows XP (prior to Windows XP operating system Service Pack 1 (SP1)): Version values in the range of 1 to 4.
All other releases of Windows: Version values in the range of 1 to 5.
<5> Section 2.2.2.2: ADM files are not supported in Windows NT and Windows 2000. ADMX files are not supported by Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.
<6> Section 2.2.3: CMTX and CMTL files are not supported by Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.
<7> Section 3.1.5.1: Windows Policy Administration tools store the policy description messages in the GPO. This enables administrators on other computers using similar tools to administer the GPO without having the Policy Description Messages available on the other computers. The administrative tools can use the Policy Description Messages in the GPO.
<8> Section 3.1.5.1: Windows administrative tools that use this protocol update the GPO with a locally cached version of ADM files as described previously if the time stamp on the locally cached version is greater than the version in the GPO or does not exist.
<9> Section 3.1.5.2: Windows administrative plug-in does not support any kind of update to the ADMX files. However, steps 1-4 in this section are supported only in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system.
<10> Section 3.2.5.1.2: Windows ignores errors writing to the local database and continues to the registry protocol sequence even when such failures occur.