Disable Internet Explorer 7 Run Once using Group policy

 In this post I will discuss how to disable the very annoying feature of Internet Explorer 7: Run Once using group policy.

When Internet Explorer 7 is first launched the following welcome screen is displayed.

This is Run Once screen is displayed to invite the user to configure certain settings on Internet Explorer 7. It only takes several mouse clicks to go through Internet Explorer 7 Run Once settings but for most users this far too many! Other users tend to ignore this setting and continue to use Internet Explorer 7. However doing so will not remove the Run Once welcome screen. Every time Internet Explorer 7 is launched the Run Once screen is displayed until you take the route to click on the settings. To make matters worse Internet Explorer 7 Run Once is per user setting meaning each user that logs onto the computer must go through the Run Once settings. Argh! Painfu! Is there a way to disable the Run Once screen? Yes there is…

There is a Local Policy setting to disable the Run Once setting as outlined on from the screenshot below:

To get to the Internet Explorer 7 policy setting click on Start->Run->gpedit.msc

Select “Prevent performance of First Run Customize settings”

The catch here is that this policy must be set for every machine.

Now to how do you disable the Run Once for every user using Group Policy?

Well firstly install then run Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc)

To start the Group Policy Management Console click on Start->Run->gpmc.msc

You should get the following:

But hey I don’t see the setting to disable Internet Explorer 7 Run Once as displayed from gpedit.msc from the first screenshot.

That’s correct for some reason the  Group Policy Object Editor doesnt have the policy settings to configure Internet Explorer 7 Run Once. Compare the screenshot from the first gpedit before and after installing the Group Policy Management Console. There’s a lot of Internet Explorer configurable settings missing.

To be able to configure and deploy policy for Internet Explorer 7 Run Once you must download the ADM file template for gpmc.msc.

You can download the group policy templates for gpmc.msc from the link below:

Administrative Templates for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows

Once downloaded you can add the template by right clicking on Administrative Templates and selecting Add/Remove Templates..on Group Policy Object Editor

From here you should be able to configure the Run Once setting and deploy to your users. (After testing of course!)

Please provide comments below if you found this article useful.