HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfileshellexIconHandler@
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTpiffileshellexIconHandler@
Where @ represents the “Default” registry value. Each of these values needs to have no data in them in order for this fix to work (and you’ll need to restart the target machine).
The GP Preferences items were very easy to craft. The following screenshot shows an example of the one I did for the lnk files:
Note that the value data field is left blank. That, in combination with using the “Update” action on the GP Preferences item, makes it easy to blank out a registry value. I then repeated this same process for the piffile path in the registry. Since I created this policy under “Computer Configuration”, I targeted the GPO to my computer objects in AD by linking it to an OU containing my computers. During the next policy refresh, the fix applied and I was protected. When an update is provided by Microsoft, you can again use GP Preferences registry extension to update the registry value with its previous, default value, which is “{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}” for both lnkfile and piffile.
Cool! GP Preferences strikes again!
Darren
JUL
About the Author:
Darren Mar-Elia is CTO & Founder of SDM Software, Inc. Darren has over 25 years of IT and Software experience in the Microsoft technology area, including serving as a Director in Infrastructure at Charles Schwab, CTO of Windows Management Solutions at Quest Software, and Sr. Director of Product Engineering at DesktopStandard. He has been a Microsoft MVP in Group Policy technology for the last 6 years and has written and spoken on Active Directory, Group Policy and PowerShell topics frequently over the years. He maintains the popular Group Policy resource web site at www.gpoguy.com and has been a contributing editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine since 1997. He has written and contributed to twelve books on Windows. Darren also speaks frequently at conferences on Windows infrastructure topics.