Backing Up and Restoring Starter GPOs
Backing up and restoring starter
GPOs is a simple operation that can be performed using the Windows 7 or
the Windows Server 2008 R2 GPMC. Starter GPOs can be backed up
individually or all of the starter GPOs can be backed up together.
Starting with Windows Vista
and Windows Server 2008, the backup functionality of the GPMC allows for
the backup of multiple versions of the same GPOs. In previous versions,
if an organization wanted historical backups of GPOs, or revisions, the
GPOs would need to be backed up to separate folder locations. Now, the
backups can all be stored in a single folder.
Backing Up All Starter GPOs
To back up all of the starter GPOs in a domain, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative system.
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2. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
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3. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPOs container and select it.
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4. | Right-click the starter GPOs and select the Back Up All button.
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5. | Specify
the folder location to store the backup, enter a description of the
backup, and click the Back Up button to back up the starter GPOs.
Note
We recommend that the
designated backup folder and the description of the backup specify or
make it very easy to differentiate between starter GPO backups and
domain GPO backups.
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6. | In the Backup window, review the status of the backup, and click OK when the backup completes.
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Backing Up a Single Starter GPO
Backing up a starter GPO can
only be performed from the Windows 7 or the Windows Server 2008 R2
GPMC. Starter GPOs can be backed up using the original GPMC backup
method, which includes version or revision history, but a single starter
GPO can also be backed up as a cabinet file. To back up a single
starter GPO, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative system.
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2. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
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3. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPOs container and expand it.
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4. | Select the desired starter GPO, right-click it, and then select the Back Up button.
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5. | Specify
the folder location to store the backup, enter a description of the
backup, and click the Back Up button to back up the starter GPO.
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6. | In the Backup window, review the status of the backup, and click OK when the backup completes.
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Saving a Starter GPO as a Cabinet File
Starter GPOs can be exported or saved as individual cabinet (*.cab)
files. Starter GPO cabinet files can be used to create new starter GPOs
or can be used to move starter GPOs between isolated test and
production Active Directory environments. To save an individual starter
GPO as a cabinet file, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative system.
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2. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
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3. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPOs container and select it.
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4. | In
the right pane, select a single starter GPO, and at the bottom of the
pane, click the Save as Cabinet button. This option will only be
available if the Starter GPOs container is selected in the tree pane and
a single starter GPO is selected in the right pane when the contents
page is selected.
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5. | Browse
or type in the location in which to save the cabinet file, specify a
name for the cabinet file, and click the Save button to save the starter
GPO.
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Restoring a Starter GPO from Backup
Restoring a starter GPO can be
performed to revert a GPO to a previously backed-up state or to recover
from a starter GPO deletion.
To restore a deleted starter GPO, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative system.
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2. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
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3. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPOs container and select it.
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4. | Right-click the Starter GPO container and select Manage Backups.
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5. | Browse to or specify the starter GPO backup location to load the starter GPO backup set.
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6. | In the window, select the desired GPO object.
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7. | If a filtered view is desired, check the Show Only the Latest Version of Each Starter GPO check box.
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8. | To
view the settings of a particular backed-up GPO, select the desired
GPO, and click the View Settings button. Close the browser window after
the settings are reviewed.
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9. | After the desired starter GPO is determined, select the GPO and click the Restore button.
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10. | Click OK in the Restore confirmation dialog box to restore the starter GPO.
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11. | Review the GPO restore progress, and click OK when it completes.
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12. | After all the necessary GPOs are restored, close the Manage Backups window.
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To change an existing starter GPO to a previously backed-up version, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative system.
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2. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
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3. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPOs container, select and expand it.
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4. | Locate and right-click the desired starter GPO, and select Restore from Backup.
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5. | In the Restore Starter GPO Wizard window, click next on the Welcome page.
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6. | On the next page, browse to or specify the starter GPO backup location, and click Next.
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7. | If a filtered view is desired, select the Show Only the Latest Version of Each Starter GPO check box.
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8. | To
view the settings of a particular backed-up GPO, select the desired
GPO, and click the View Settings button. Close the browser window after
the settings are reviewed.
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9. | After the desired starter GPO is determined, select the GPO, and click Next.
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10. | Review
the settings summary on the Completing the Restore Starter GPO Wizard
page, and click Finish to start the restore process.
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11. | Review the GPO restore progress, and click OK when it completes.
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Disabling Starter GPO Functionality
An
organization may determine that starter GPO functionality should be
removed. In those situations, it is quite easy to disable starter GPO
functionality. If starter GPO functionality needs to be removed from a
domain, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative system.
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2. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
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3. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPOs container and select it.
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4. | Verify that the starter GPO functionality is enabled by viewing the right pane.
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5. | If the functionality is enabled, close the GPMC.
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6. | Click
Start and in the search field, type
\\companyabc.com\sysvol\companyabc.com\ and press Enter. This example is
for the companyabc.com domain; you should substitute your Active
Directory DNS domain name.
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7. | When the explorer window opens, one of the folders shown is the StarterGPOs folder. Right-click and delete that entire folder.
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8. | Close the explorer windows.
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9. | Open the Group Policy Management Console again.
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10. | Expand the domain to expose the Starter GPO container and select it.
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11. | Verify
that the starter GPO functionality is now disabled by viewing the right
pane. If starter GPOs are now disabled, there will be a button labeled
Create Starter GPO Folder.
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12. | The task is now complete; close the GPMC.
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Removing starter GPO
functionality will not affect any domain group policies that were
previously creating using any starter GPOs.
