Security policy settings reference

Applies to

  • Windows 11
  • Windows 10

This reference of security settings provides information about how to implement and manage security policies, including setting options and security considerations.

This reference focuses on those settings that are considered security settings. This reference examines only the settings and features in the Windows operating systems that can help organizations secure their enterprises against malicious software threats. Management features and those security features that you can't configure aren't described in this reference.

Each policy setting described contains referential content such as a detailed explanation of the settings, best practices, default settings, differences between operating system versions, policy management considerations, and security considerations that include a discussion of vulnerability, countermeasures, and potential impact of those countermeasures.

In this section

Topic Description
Account Policies An overview of account policies in Windows and provides links to policy descriptions.
Audit Policy Provides information about basic audit policies that are available in Windows and links to information about each setting.
Security Options Provides an introduction to the settings under Security Options of the local security policies and links to information about each setting.
Advanced security audit policy settings Provides information about the advanced security audit policy settings that are available in Windows and the audit events that they generate.
User Rights Assignment Provides an overview and links to information about the User Rights Assignment security policy settings user rights that are available in Windows.