Group Policy

Group Policy is one of the important Change and Configuration Management technologies provided in the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 operating system. Administrators use Group Policy to specify options for managed desktop configurations for groups of computers and users. Group Policy is flexible and includes options for registry-based policy settings, security settings, software installation, scripts, computer startup and shutdown, user logon and logoff, and folder redirection. Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server includes hundreds of Group Policy settings you can configure. Group Policy allows an organization to reduce total cost of ownership by allowing administrators to enhance and control users' desktops.

In This Chapter

Group Policy Overview

Active Directory Structure and Group Policy

Managing Group Policy

Configuring Group Policy

Group Policy Storage

Group Policy Object Links

Using Security Groups to Filter and Delegate Group Policy

Group Policy Processing

Client-side Processing of Group Policy

Using Group Policy on Stand-alone Computers

Group Policy Loopback Support

Supporting Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, and Windows 98 Clients

Using Windows NT 4.0 Administrative Templates in the Windows 2000 Group Policy Console

Migration Issues Pertaining to Group Policy

Best Practices

Related Information in the Resource Kit

For more information about Active Directory^™, see the chapters on Active Directory in this book.
For more information about Change and Configuration Management see "Introduction to Desktop Management" in this book.
For more information about Access Control see "Access Control" in this book.
For more information about Group Policy backup see "Active Directory Backup and Restore" in this book.
For information about the Software Installation snap-in, see "Software Installation and Maintenance" in this book.