An introduction to the Group Policy Editor in Windows XP Professional Edition Part II

Go to Part I of this article

Topics on this page:

Adding a Group Policy Object to the console

The Group Policy Editor

Templates

Adding a Group Policy Object to the console

The GPO can be added from a local computer or a remote Active Directory. After clicking Add above, the Welcome to the Group Policy Wizard opens (Fig. 1). For a standalone computer, click Finish. For a computer in a network domain, click Browse.

Fig. 1. Welcome to the Group Policy Wizard.

For computers on a domain, choose This computer or Another computer and browse to select the GPO's location (Fig. 2). If the computer is a standalone workstation this and further steps would not be necessary. The Local Group Policy Object will load.

Fig. 2. Choose the computer location.

Select the GPO location and enter the GPO name (fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Select the GPO location and name.

Click the Advanced tab for more options (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. More options in the Advanced tab.

The Group Policy Editor

Launch the Group Policy Editor on its own (not as part of an Microsoft Management Console snap-in) by going to: Start, Run, gpedit.msc and OK (Fig. 5):

Fig. 5. Start, Run gpedit.msc, OK.

The Group Policy window opens (Fig. 6); the Extended tab on the right pane contains a brief description of a selected item on the right.

Fig. 6. The Group Policy window showing Local Computer Policy.

Templates

The Local Computer Policy is divided into two main subsections: the Computer Configuration and the User Configuration and each is further divided into three main subsections: Software, Windows and Administrative Templates. Their tree structure is shown in part III.

There are four administrative templates loaded by default: Conf.adm (conference or netmeeting), Inetres.adm (Internet restrictions), System.adm and Wmplayer.adm (Windows Media Player). The settings in these templates are split under both the Computer Configuration and the User Configuration, Administrative Templates subdirectory.

On the right pane, the Extended page shows a description of the highlighted item.

If a template is not shown, you can add it by right clicking Administrative Templates, choose Add/Remove Templates; you can also remove a template that you don't need from here: this will help to start the mmc faster (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. Administrative Templates, Add/Remove Templates.

In the Add/Remove Templates dialogue box, choose the template to add or remove; here the four default templates are shown (fig. 8)

Fig. 8. Add/Remove Templates showing four default templates.

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Go to Part III.

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Last updated 12 Feb 2004