Group Policy Preferences: Getting Started Guide

Group Policy preferences are a set of client extensions that provide preference settings for computers that are connected to a domain and are running Microsoft Windows operating systems. Preference settings and administrative configuration options are used for desktops and servers. The preferences settings are different from the policy settings, because users have a choice when changing the administrative configuration. Policy settings administratively apply settings that restrict user choice.

Group Policy preferences apply to computers that are connected to a domain using Group Policy. The flexibility of the settings allows it to supply computer configuration information to a Windows-based domain. The data is transferred to the internal line on the client side, in which the data becomes relevant, as the client side extends data.

Group Policy

This is the management technology included in Windows (including Windows Server), which allows you to protect your computer and user settings. Protecting these settings provides a common computing environment for users and limits random configurations that adversely affect the operating system. Through the local Group Policy editor, you can configure them.

Group Policy Object

It is a logical object, consisting of two components: a container and a template. Windows copies the container and template to all the controllers in the domain, as well as copies of Active Directory replication with the container, and the file replication service copies the service data to the system volume.

The Group Policy container and template together create an object. Computer configuration settings affect the computer as a whole, regardless of the registered user. User configuration parameters affect the current user's record and can vary depending on each person. Power management, user rights, and Group Policy settings for the firewall-they all include custom settings. The same applies to Internet Explorer, the display and folder redirection options.

Relationship of objects

Objects and their settings are applied to computers and users who are connected to each other. You can associate objects on the site with the Active Directory domain name, organizational unit, or nested organizational unit. Objects exist separately from the container with which they are associated. This separation allows you to link a single object to multiple containers. Actually, the editor of the local group policy himself will explain much more. Binding objects for many containers allows one security parameter to apply settings to users or a computer in a multiple policy container. This creates a connection between the object and the policy settings. Computer configurations apply to computers in a container or in nested containers. User configurations apply to users in the same manner. In addition, it allows you to perform a full update of group policies.

The parameters are applied when the computer is started and when the user logs on to the system. When the computer starts, the Group Policy service queries Active Directory for a list of GPOs that are within the scope of the computer object. Again, this includes:

• Site.
• Net.
• The main organizational unit.

Group Policy Service

This element is no less important, because it determines which objects are applied to computers (there are many ways of filling objects depending on the application), and uses these. Client extensions are responsible for applying the parameters contained in objects. They are a service component that is responsible for reading specific policy parameter data from an object and applies it to a computer or user. To do this, you need a local Group Policy editor. For example, the registry extension on the side reads the registry setting and its installation data from each object, and then applies this information to the registry. The security extension reads and applies security policy settings , for example, when redirecting folders.

Previous Versions

Processing is repeated when the user logs on to the system. Group Policy (namely, its service) defines the objects that apply to the user, and then applies the user settings. It is important that there is a solid understanding of how to create, modify, and associate objects for containers in Active Directory. Group Policy preferences use the same concepts as other settings. In fact, you control preferences in the same way as other parameters. If earlier the basis for you were previous versions of Windows, then you should forget about them, since, starting with Windows 7, the settings have changed. The Windows Server group policies of the latest version, as well as Windows 10, differ markedly from them.

Client Extensions

This is an isolated component responsible for handling specific policy settings set by the infrastructure. The format in which each extension stores data may be unique for each extension. Infrastructure does not know about this format, and does not interact with it. The purpose of the development team is to provide customizations to the computer, where each client extension applies part of the parameters from several objects. This is especially important if you are considering a local group policy.

Infrastructure Interconnection and Expansion

To help understand the relationship between infrastructure and expansion, consider a live "mail carrier" - the postman. He collects information from various sources and provides this information to us. The postman has no idea what information is being delivered to us. Information can be a simple written, photo, DVD or CD with photos. He only knows that he must deliver information to a specific address.

By this analogy, the Group Policy service is a kind of postal courier - it delivers information without any knowledge of it. Information flowing through it represents various policy settings. An extension is the person receiving the information. Addresses can have many recipients. Each recipient is waiting for his mail in a specific format. The extension reads the appropriate policy setting information and performs actions based on the information that is contained in the parameters.

Configuring Group Policy

The security option in the article extends the Windows settings system. But these are not global parameters. Windows stores both settings in the registry. However, policy settings have an advantage over preferences, because they tend to override the preference.

How to open Group Policy Windows 10

To do this, you need to press Win + R, where in an empty field you need to type gpedit.msc. In this there is nothing complicated and supernatural, as this is the usual standard application for launching services and programs.

You can configure Windows using the user interface. It gives you a choice: you choose the options that you like, click the "OK" button and close the dialog box. So you save in Windows your choice to the registry so that he can remember these settings later. The settings configured by the user are known as preferences (note that the parameters were mentioned above). Displaying a shared folder or selecting a default home page is an excellent example of preferences. When setting up a home page using Internet Explorer, you can close the web browser and open it again, and it remembers your home page. The policy settings are different from the preferences, because the former are applied to a user or computer. The policy does not allow the user to change the settings. Typically, users configure preferences.

Configuration

Group Policy preferences allow you to run the required configurations without restricting the user from choosing a different configuration. It is important to remember that while the user can change the configuration, the extension can work for the main computer user. Thus, it overwrites the preferences parameters that have been changed. Replacing the user-configured set of settings is configured using preferences in the same way as in the rest. The true parameter applies the settings and limits the user from changing the settings. Users can easily change the preference values until the system is turned on until the next update (which returns these settings back to the default value). To get the window, as shown in the picture below, refer to "How to open Group Policy".

Treatment

Client extensions are configured to follow standard rules. Thus, the hierarchy is associated with security and filtering, which can change the scale of the object configured with preferences. Changing the scale, users and computers can get the settings of the preferences elements installed in these objects.

Nevertheless, preferences and client extensions have their own internal processing, that is, they are separately installed in relation to them. Group Policies allow you to configure one or more preference items for one extension for processing within a single object. For example, you can configure one object to contain 10 elements of an application or program.

List of objects

During processing, the infrastructure is repeated through a list of extensions. As it moves to each internal subscriber, it shares information related to the extension to process its part. Critical components of information together with extensions include a list of those objects that included changes, as well as those that are no longer in the field of possible application by the user or a computer. In addition, the infrastructure provides information related to this processing instance, for example, if the network connection is considered to be a slow link. Group Policy updates are performed by updating other programs and applications.

Processing results

Preference extensions use information about changed objects. The elements of the client extensions are arranged in the order from the top of the list to the bottom. The results of processing each preference element vary depending on the action configured in this element. The client extension, as soon as the operating system is launched, finds each item in the list and applies all the parameters to it until it reaches the end of the list or completes its task due to common configuration parameters such as, for example, stop items And processing data in this extension (but only if the error occurs on the same issue, otherwise the search will not end). After the preference extensions apply all privileged items in the list, it returns control of the Group Policy service.