Windows 2008 Remote Server Administration Tool

After finally switching from XP to Vista over the past few days, I came to update some Group Policy Objects this morning, only to find that the GPMC (Group Policy Management Console) that came with the Windows 2003 Adminpak no longer works. Apparently it is not Vista-compatible (I have heard that such problems exist!)

Oh well, I thought, I'll just get the Vista-compatible one. Cue a 2 hour trawl through the web. Apparently the GPMC was available in Vista pre-SP1 but for some reason Microsoft removed it when SP1 came out. They then re-released it as part of the Windows 2008 Remote Server Administration Tools but failed to put any mention of it on their website so you can't find it. Eventually I stumbled upon this thread http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistasp/thread/81571529-c84c-4db2-8d9b-0943f1870031/ which explains how to get it and run it.

In a nutshell, here's how to obtain and enable it:

1. Uninstall the Windows 2003 Adminpak if you currently have it installed
2. Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9ff6e897-23ce-4a36-b7fc-d52065de9960&DisplayLang=e (32bit) or http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d647a60b-63fd-4ac5-9243-bd3c497d2bc5&DisplayLang=en (64bit)
3. Install it
4. Enable the Remote Server Administration Tools from the 'Turn Windows features on or off' box in the Programs and Features applet in Control Panel
5. Make a brew while waiting for the features to be configured (this took about 10 minutes on my PC)
6. The tools are now available in the Administrative Tools menu
   

Yet another example of Microsoft frustrating their customers by overcomplicating something that used to be very simple, but hey, I should be used to it by now...