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Windows Server 2008 R2 : GPO Administrative Tasks (part 1)

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3/9/2011 2:41:07 PM
Installing the Group Policy Management Tools

Before Group Policy can be managed, the Group Policy Management Tools must be installed. These tools are installed by default on Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controllers, but for other systems, they must be manually installed. The following sections detail installation steps for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 systems.

Installing the Group Policy Management Tools on Windows Server 2008 R2

Before group policies can be managed from a Windows Server 2008 R2 system, the Group Policy Management feature must be installed, as detailed in the following steps:

1.
Log on to a designated administrative system running Windows Server 2008 R2.

2.
Open Server Manager from the Administrative Tools menu.

3.
After Server Manager loads, click on the Features node in the tree pane.

4.
Select Add Features in the right pane.

5.
Scroll down and check the box next to Group Policy Management and click Next.

6.
Confirm the selection and click Install to begin the process.

7.
After the process completes, click Close to complete the installation.

Installing the Group Policy Management Tools on Windows 7

To manage domain group policies from a Windows 7 system, the administrator must download the “Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7” from the Microsoft download site. After the tool is downloaded, it must be installed on the Windows 7 system by an administrator. Once the tool is installed, the Group Policy Management feature can be installed from Control Panel, as detailed in the following steps:

1.
Log on to a designated administrative system running Windows 7 after the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 are installed.

2.
Open Control Panel from the Start menu.

3.
Select Programs and click on the Turn Windows Features On or Off link.

4.
Scroll down and expand Remote Server Administration Tools.

5.
Expand Feature Administration Tools and check the box next to Group Policy Management Tools.

6.
Click OK on the Windows Features window to begin the installation.

7.
Once the installation completes, close Control Panel.

After these steps are completed, the Group Policy Management feature can be accessed from the Administrative Tools menu. Installing these tools also installs the Group Policy module for PowerShell.

Managing Group Policy with Windows PowerShell

From a Windows 7 or a Windows Server 2008 R2 system with the Group Policy Management Tools installed, several new Windows PowerShell cmdlets can be leveraged to manage Group Policy. To access these Group Policy cmdlets, follow these steps:

1.
Log on to a designated administrative system running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

2.
Click the Start or Windows button on the taskbar and in the search pane type in PowerShell.

3.
When the results are shown, right-click Windows PowerShell and select Run as Administrator.

4.
In the PowerShell window, type Import-module grouppolicy and press Enter to enable Group Policy management.

5.
Now in the window, type Get-command *GP* -commandtype cmdlet and press Enter to see a list of the 25 different Group Policy cmdlets available.

6.
To get help information on a specific Group Policy cmdlet, such as “get-gporeport”, type Get-help get-gporeport and press Enter.

7.
And to see syntax usage of a specific cmdlet such as “get-gporeport”, type Get-help get-gporeport –example and press Enter to see several different examples.

Creating a GPO Central Store

Starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, administrators now have the ability to manually create a folder on the Active Directory domain controller that contains all of the necessary ADMX and ADML files. This folder is referred to as the GPO central store and will need to be created and managed manually. The GPO central store can be created in a domain that contains at least Windows Server 2003 domain controllers or greater.

By default, with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2, when a GPO is opened for editing on one of these operating systems, the system first checks the domain controller to which the GPO management tool is connected for the existence of a GPO central store. If the folder exists, the GPO loads the templates stored in the folder. If the central store does not exist, the local copies of the ADMX and ADML files are loaded to view the GPO.

Note

For a central store to work properly, the Active Directory Forest and Domain Schema must be upgraded to at least Windows Server 2008 Schema.


The creation of the GPO central store provides a simple, yet effective way for administrators to manage administrative templates from the server. To create the GPO central store, perform the following steps:

1.
Log on to a designated administrative system running Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

2.
Browse to the C:\Windows\ folder and copy the PolicyDefinitions folder to the Clipboard.

3.
In a domain named companyabc.com, open the following folder: \\companyabc.com\sysvol\companyabc.com\policies.

4.
Paste the PolicyDefinitions folder from the Clipboard to the folder referenced in the preceding step.

5.
Close any open folder windows.

The preceding steps create the central store and populate the store with the ADML language files of the administrative workstation. If additional language files are required, the language subfolder within the PolicyDefinitions folder of the administrative workstation can be copied into the domain’s central store now located at \\companyabc.com\sysvol\companyabc.com\policies\PolicyDefinitions.

Verifying the Usage of the GPO Central Store

To verify whether the central store is actually being used, perform the following steps:

1.
Log on to a designated administrative system.

2.
Open the Group Policy Management Console.

3.
Expand the domain to expose the Group Policy Objects container and expand it.

4.
Select any existing GPO that contains at least one configured setting within the Administrative Templates section of either the Computer Configuration or User Configuration node.

5.
In the right pane, select the Settings tab to view the settings of the GPO, similar to the settings shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Examining Group Policy settings.

6.
Under Administrative Templates, it will state whether policy definitions (ADMX) files were retrieved from the local machine or from the central store.

7.
Close the Group Policy Management Console.
Other -----------------
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Designing a Group Policy Infrastructure
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Policy Management Tools (part 3) - Event Viewer
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Policy Management Tools (part 2)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Policy Management Tools (part 1) - Group Policy Management Console & Group Policy Object Editor
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Group Policy Administrative Templates Explained
- Windows Server 2003 : Deploying DNS Servers (part 4) - Viewing and Clearing the DNS Server Cache
- Windows Server 2003 : Deploying DNS Servers (part 3) - Creating Resource Records
- Windows Server 2003 : Deploying DNS Servers (part 2) - Understanding Server Types
- Windows Server 2003 : Deploying DNS Servers (part 1) - Installing the DNS Server Service & Configuring a DNS Server
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Elements of Group Policy (part 5)
 
 
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