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Each BlackBerry smartphone, on activation, is added to a customisable base IT policy to ensure a minimum level of security. From this starting point, administrators can create user groups and easily modify policies to meet the security needs of the organisation.

All policy settings are synchronised and assigned to the BlackBerry smartphone over-the-air. As a result, BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrators who need to facilitate large deployments can easily change IT policies on a corporate level without requiring users to cradle their BlackBerry smartphones.

With the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, IT policies are one-way, server-initiated outbound communications. This ensures that administrators can control each BlackBerry smartphone reliably, with complete confidence that the device is compliant—users can’t intervene or prevent a policy from being applied once the administrator has initiated it. As well, IT policies carry unique digital signatures to ensure that only the designated BlackBerry Enterprise Server can send updates to a BlackBerry smartphone.

While IT Policy does help corporates and institutions ensure that the security of the information is contained, it does at times cause issues to the device owner. For example, some of the settings in the IT Policy can even prevent a device owner from installing new applications etc. So if you are someone who wants to get rid of the IT Policy from your BlackBerry device, this is the article to read.

This article describes step by step instructions related to removing IT Policy from your Blackberry device. Please ensure that before following the steps mentioned below, you take a backup of the data on your device. This post is only for educational purposes and by any means not responsible for any issues that may arise on your device after following the steps below.

1.) First step in this process is to ensure that the Blackberry Desktop Manager is installed using Blackberry Internet Service, and not Blackberry Enterprise Server. In case if you are unsure about how the installation was done, it would probably be a good idea to uninstall the Desktop Manager and start again. BlackBerry Desktop Manager can be found on the CD that came with your BlackBerry device. If you don’t have the CD that came with your Blackberry, the Software can be downloaded here.

2.) Download the file policy.bin and save it in your Blackberry installation directory (by default this is C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry).

3.) Next you need to Wipe your Blackberry. Wiping your BlackBerry essentially deletes all the data from the BlackBerry and brings it back to the Factory settings level. This operation can even take some amount of time. So do get yourself a cup of coffee if you wish. You might even be interested in taking a backup of your BlackBerry before you Wipe off everything.

Select Options–>Security–>Wipe on the Device.

4.) Close the Desktop Manager if it is open.

5.) Now, From the Windows Start Menu select Run, at the input box enter “regedit” (without the quotes). Next, you need to navigate   to  HKEY_Current_Users\Software\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\PolicyManager

Right-Click the Policy Manager Folder and select New/String Value. Name the value Path. Now, Double-Click the Path Subkey and set Value Data to:

C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\policy.bin

6.) Next, Open the Desktop Manager and connect your device.

As a verification step, once complete, check the Options -> Security screen on your Blackberry. If everything has gone fine, it should not contain references to an IT Policy. Once the IT Policy has been removed, you should be able to change all settings (including password prompts), and install Third Party Applications.

Source

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