Question : Enable 'Client for Microsoft Networks' & 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks' via group policy

I have a large number of computers and laptops, which I need to enable both 'Client for Microsoft Networks' & 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks' within every network connection properties. I don't like the idea of having to go to each machine and enabling it manually. Is there a way to enable both these options via Group Policy on Windows Server 2003? The client machines are all Windows XP.

Might there be an alternative solution if group policy is not a possible means of enabling these features?

Answer : Enable 'Client for Microsoft Networks' & 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks' via group policy

Changing bindings on network cards is not a straightforward thing to do programmatically.  There is no quick and dirty reg hack.  You have to work with the NDIS subsystem and that's what snetcfg does.

I have done this exact thing before - needed to deploy something that required File and Print and had to script it to turn it on then back off when the deployment was done.  I used a separate GPO to link to run the script then unlinked it when I was done.