Java SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition)

I feel like a complete idiot that I can't figure this out, but it's either so obvious I'm overlooking it, or I just plain can't figure it out, so I'm hoping someone here can help.

We have not yet been able to figure out how to simply disabled the Auto Update option when installing JRE under Vista, so it will never check for updates, no matter what user is logged into a pc. I've just installed the newest version 1.6.0_05-b13, but get the same results.

Basically, we are creating a "base clone image" of a Vista workstation and we need the auto update feature of the JRE to be disabled so it doesn't check for updates. When a new user logs into the pc, we want them to 'inherit' this setting from the default user profile, or we simply want a 'global' setting on the pc that stops all JAVA update checks from occuring. But even though there are multiple registry keys that 'look' like they control the auto update function, no matter how we set them the update option still shows it is enabled when you open the JAVA control panel.

We have 2 basic problems:

- When a standard user runs the JAVA Control Panel applet and they select the 'Update' tab, the option to "uncheck" autoupdates is "grayed out". If we make the user a local administrator, then it is not grayed out anymore and they can set the option. Problem is, we have thousands of users and none of them are local administrators, hence the problem of getting it to already be defaulted to not check for updates. How do we get the update checkbox to NOT be grayed out for a NON-administrator?

- How do we set the 'global' (or default) option to disable the auto update checkbox for ALL users? No matter what we try, when a new user logs in, the auto update feature is still enabled after their initial profile is generated from the first time login.

I was able to figure out if I change the "EnableJavaUpdate" value in the below registry key, it will "remove" the Update tab from the JAVA Control Panel. But does the simply remove the tab? Or does it remove the tab AND disable auto updates for ALL users on the computer?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy

I've sent multiple emails to Sun asking for help on what should be a simple thing to do, but have never received a reply from them.

Keith Hemmelman