Introduction to Configuration and Management

Group Policy settings allow you to define the customizations and restrictions applied to the operating system, desktop environment, and applications for users, such as language settings, custom dictionaries, accessibility, desktop configurations, and other user preferences and restrictions. You can use Group Policy settings to grant and deny users the ability to customize their own computing environments.

For centralized control of workstations, you should apply Group Policy settings by using Active Directory tools. In addition, each computer has one local Group Policy object that can be used outside an Active Directory domain. When you use Group Policy with Active Directory, you can precisely adjust Group Policy settings on computers and users by using security groups to filter Group Policy objects.

Important

You cannot use security groups to filter Group Policy objects when you use local Group Policy on an individual computer.

This section compares Windows NT 4.0 Workstation System Policy Editor with Windows 2000 Professional Group Policy, describes how to set Group Policy settings on individual workstations, alerts you to migration issues when you move individual workstations to a Windows 2000 Server network, describes where local Group Policy settings are stored and how they are enforced, and points you to resources where you can find more information about Group Policy in a Windows 2000 Server environment.

It is important to understand the difference between local Group Policy, which is set on an individual computer, and centrally managed Group Policy, which is implemented by using Windows 2000 Server with Active Directory. The following sections primarily describe how to use local Group Policy settings on a computer that is not managed by Windows 2000 Server.

Important

Group policy settings take precedence over user settings.

For more information about planning and deploying Windows 2000 Server Active Directory and Group Policy, see Active Directory Logical Structure and Group Policy in the Distributed Systems Guide .

Note

The Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit 4.0 in the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Resource Kit is used to control some desktop configuration settings on Windows 95 or Windows 98. You should not use Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit 5 to configure Group Policy on computers that are running Windows 2000 Professional. You should use Group Policy only to control configuration options.