Tip: Five Command Line Tools for Managing Group Policy

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Here are five command line tools you should keep handy when managing Group Policy throughout your organization.

GPMC If you know anything about Group Policy, you probably know that GPMC is used to manage Active Directory-based Group Policy. GPMC provides a comprehensive set of Component Object Model (COM) interfaces that you can use to script many operations.

GPFIXUP This is used to resolve domain name dependencies in Group Policy objects and Group Policy links after a domain rename operation.

GPRESULT You can use this tool to see what policy is in effect and to troubleshoot policy problems.

GPUPDATE This lets you refresh Group Policy manually. Gpupdate replaces the SECEDIT /refreshpolicy tool that was available in Windows 2000. If you type gpupdate at a command prompt, both the Computer Configuration settings and the User Configuration settings in Group Policy will be refreshed on the local computer.

LDIFDE This tool is used to import and export directory information. You can use LDIFDE to help you perform advanced backup and recovery of policy settings that are stored outside of GPOs. Specifically, you can use this tool to back up and restore a large number of Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) filters at one time.

Tip adapted from Windows Group Policy Administrator’s Pocket Consultant by William Stanek.

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