The Active Directory directory service offers significant benefits for shared computers on a network. Active Directory gives network users controlled access to resources anywhere on the network by using a single set of credentials. It also provides network administrators with an intuitive, hierarchical view of the network, and a single point of administration for all network objects.

Active Directory provides an environment for centrally managing user accounts that require access to network resources. In this environment, users must log on with the same credentials on multiple computers, as many educational institutions require. For these reasons, Windows SteadyState has been designed to work as favorably in domain environments as it does for workgroup computers.

Please note that most of the settings and restrictions available in Windows SteadyState are also available through the Group Policy template (SCTSettings.adm) provided with Windows SteadyState. When considering the installation of Windows SteadyState on shared computers that are connected to a domain network, Group Policy is more effective than using Windows SteadyState for restricting multiple user accounts across numerous computers on a domain network.

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