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Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems. Group Policy is a set of rules which control the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides the centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications and users' settings in an Active Directory environment. In other words, Group Policy in part controls what users can and can't do on a computer system. Although Group Policy is more often seen in use in enterprise environments, it is also common in schools, smaller businesses and other kinds of smaller organizations. Group Policy is often used to restrict certain actions that may pose potential security risks, for example: to block access to the Task Manager, restrict access to certain folders, disable the downloading of executable files and so on.
As part of Microsoft's IntelliMirror technologies, Group Policy aims to reduce the cost of supporting users. IntelliMirror technologies relate to the management of disconnected machines or roaming users and include roaming user profiles, folder redirection and offline files.
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Overview
Group Policy can control a target object's registry, NTFS security, audit and security policy, software installation, logon- and logoff-scripts, Security filtering is the process of customizing the scope of the GPO by choosing which users and groups the GPO applies to.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) filtering is the process of customizing the scope of the GPO by choosing a WMI filter to apply.
Delegation is the process of customizing the security descriptors of the GPO by assigning specific users and groups and the individual permissions that will be applied for each. This has more control than security filtering as it allows modification of both Apply and Deny permissions.
GPO application
The Group Policy client operates on a "pull" model - every so often (a randomized delay of between 90 and 120 minutes, although this offset is configurable via Group Policy) it will collect the list of GPOs appropriate to the machine and logged on user (if any). The Group Policy client will then apply those GPOs which will thereafter affect the behavior of policy-enabled operating system components and applications.
Local Group Policy
Local Group Policy (LGP) is a more basic version of the Group Policy used by Active Directory. In versions of Windows before Windows Vista, LGP can configure the Group Policy for a single local computer, but unlike Active Directory Group Policy, can not make policies for individual users or groups. It also has many fewer options overall than Active Directory Group Policy. The specific-user limitation can be overcome by using the Registry Editor to make changes under the HKCU or HKU keys. LGP simply makes registry changes under the HKLM key, thus affecting all users. The same changes can be made under HKCU or HKU to only affect certain users. Microsoft has more information on using the Registry Editor to configure Group Policy available on TechNet.[1] LGP can be used on a computer on a domain, and it can be used on Windows XP Home Edition.
Windows Vista supports Multiple Local Group Policy objects (MLGPO), which allows setting local Group Policy for individual users.[2]
Security
One potential problem with per-user policies is that they're only enforced voluntarily by the targeted applications. A malevolent user can interfere with the application so that it cannot successfully read its Group Policy settings thus enforcing potentially lower security defaults or even return arbitrary values.[citation needed] The user can also create a copy of the application at a writable location, then modify it such that it ignores the Group Policy settings.[citation needed]
See also
References
External links
- Microsoft Group Policy page
- GPanswers.com Group Policy (Community 3rd Party Resource)
- The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
- Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Multiple Local Group Policy Objects
- Group Policy Settings (in Excel format) and registry key equivalents, from Microsoft
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