Group Policy is an infrastructure that allows you to specify managed configurations for users and computers in an Active Directory directory service environment. Group Policy settings are contained in Group Policy objects (GPOs). GPOs exist in a domain, and can be linked to the following Active Directory containers: sites, domains, or organizational units (OUs). A GPO consists of two parts — one part is located in Active Directory, the other is located in the Sysvol folder — both of which are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. The settings within GPOs are then evaluated by the affected targets, using the hierarchical nature of Active Directory. Core Group Policy or the Group Policy engine is the framework that handles common functionalities across all client side extensions.

In this subject

• What Is Core Group Policy?
  
  
• How Core Group Policy Works
  
  
• Core Group Policy Tools and Settings