Group Policy

Purpose

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 greatly enhances the features provided by Windows NT® 4.0-style system policy by using centralized policy-based administration, or Group Policy. Group Policy uses directory services and security group membership to support extensive configuration information and provide flexibility. Policy settings are specified by an administrator, unlike profile settings, which are often specified by the user. They are created using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in for Group Policy.

Where Applicable

All Windows-based applications can use the Group Policy infrastructure to configure their policy settings.

Developer Audience

The Group Policy API is designed for use by C/C++ programmers. Familiarity with Active Directory and MMC is required.

Run-time Requirements

Applications that use Group Policy require Windows 2000. For compatibility, Windows 2000 servers can support Windows NT 4.0-style system policy on computers running Windows NT 4.0.

See Also

Active Directory

Microsoft Management Console

Overview

General information about Group Policy.

Using Group Policy

Code examples and information on implementing Group Policy.

Reference

Documentation of the Group Policy functions, interfaces, and file formats.

Feedback

Make error reports and feature requests directly to Microsoft.