manch03
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Group policy - audio settings
How do I prevent users from accessing the audio in their taskbar to control volume? I used to do this with NT4 and I cannot find where the policy is on Windows 2003 server. Windows XP Professional workstations. I have hundreds of these and would like to be able to set a policy.
Control volume? Do you want to shut it off, or disable sound completely? Seems to me, any knowledgeable user would immediately go to the control panel to change volume, so making the task bar icon disappear will not solve the problem, will it?
If you go to start > settings > control panel > sounds and audio devices and uncheck to box to "Place volume icon in taskbar" Then remove access to sounds and audio devices in Group Policy. Will that work for you?
ASKER
The users cannot access the control panel. I do not want to disable it completely, I want the sound, but I want it set to a low volume so that they cannot turn it up. When they have substitute teachers, they really violate this policy.
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But if you set the sound the way you want it and remove the icom from the taskbar and don't give them access to control panel they should not be able to change the sound once you set it. Is this what you are looking for?
<<I do not want to disable it completely, I want the sound, but I want it set to a low volume so that they cannot turn it up. >>
There is no way to do this without getting into the user policies in each system and disabling the service for that profile. If the sound is running, people can find a way to turn it up, it's just a matter of ingenuity on their part.
There is no way to do this without getting into the user policies in each system and disabling the service for that profile. If the sound is running, people can find a way to turn it up, it's just a matter of ingenuity on their part.
But if it were not on the taskbar and the sound applet was disabled how would they change the volume?
ASKER
They can go in through the Program files - Accessories and there is a volume control on that - like you say if they are inventive enough to search for the sound controls they can find it - I should be able to hide that also though.
Go to User Configuration --> User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Start Menu and Taskbar -- Click on "Hide notification area" (near the bottom) and click Enabled.
This setting will hide all the icons in the taskbar beside the system clock