Active Directory Rights Management Services Client for Windows Vista

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Vista

Microsoft® Windows® Rights Management Services (RMS) provides services to enable the creation of information-protection solutions. RMS is a format and application-agnostic technology. It will work with any RMS-enabled application to provide persistent usage policies for sensitive information. Content that can be protected by using RMS includes intranet Web sites, e-mail messages, and documents. RMS includes a set of core functions that allow developers to add information protection to the functionality of existing applications.

With Windows Vista, the name of the RMS client has changed to Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) client and is integrated into the operating system so that a separate installation is not required. In versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems earlier than Windows Vista, the client is named Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) client and is available from the Microsoft Download Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=67736) as a separate downloadable component.

The AD RMS client requires little interaction from the system administrator who is administering the client computers. However, in more complex environments, it might be necessary to adjust the default AD RMS client configuration.

To get more technical information about RMS and the new AD RMS client, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=68637.