Network Administration & Consulting Services

Group Policy Preferences in Windows Server 2008

Posted Wednesday, 28 November 2007 by Michael Khanin

Microsoft acquired DesktopStandard and obtained GPOVault and most of the PolicyMaker family. GPOVault has been updated and released as Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM), part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance (MDOP). PolicyMaker Standard Edition and PolicyMaker Share Manager will be available to Microsoft customers in two ways as "Group Policy Preferences" and will be integrated into the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) in:

Windows Server 2008 (starting with November CTP)
Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Vista SP1

Windows Server 2008 includes the new Group Policy Preferences built-in to the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). Additionally, administrators can configure preferences by installing the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on a computer running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1).

The key difference between "Group Policy Preferences" and "Group Policies (settings)" is enforcement. "Group Policies" enforce policy settings and prevent users from changing them. Group Policy Preferences does not (necessarily) enforce settings to machines/users, but merely applies the settings as preferences.

"Group Policy Preferences" extend more than 20 Group Policy categories within a Group Policy Object (GPO) and enable IT professionals to configure, deploy, and manage operating system and application settings including mapped drives, scheduled tasks, power options, files and/or folders, printers, folder options and Start menu settings for Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP systems.

"Group Policy Preferences" do not require you to install any services or components onto your servers. Windows Server 2008 includes Group Policy Preferences by default as part of the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). Administrators will also be able to configure and deploy Group Policy preferences in a Windows Server 2003 environment by installing the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on a computer running Windows Vista with SP1. Both RSAT and Windows Vista SP1 will be available in the first quarter of 2008.

Although you donâ€™t have to install any services to create GPOs (Group Policy Objects) that contain Group Policy Preferences, you must deploy the Group Policy Preferences client-side extension (CSE) to any client computer to which you want to deploy these preferences. The CSE will be available as a separate download from Microsoft and will support the following Windows versions: