Group Policy 2003->2008

CoryS

So can I have a 2008 DC and implement all the new GPOs in a mixed environment that includes 2003 dc's, also from what I read the new GPOs are mainly for Vista but there will be some settings that are being deployed to XP via the new SP3?? Anyone have more insight?

dynamik

2008 will be able to operate with 2000 and 2003 DCs. I haven't had a chance to play around with 2008 yet, but my guess is that the new GPOs will simply not apply to XP machines that do not support them.

SP3 is basically just a collection of updates. You're not going to see any significant changes in functionality.

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68c48dad-bc34-40be-8d85-6bb4f56f5110&displaylang=en

SWM

Some one correct me if I am wrong, but I have found I need to run "gpmc.msc" on a Vista workstation in order to change Domain Group Polilies that affect Vista/2008 computers.

Server 2003 Group Policy editor does not recognise the latest group policy additions, I think it shows them as extra registry settings but does not allow you to edit them.

I have see this with Vista clients and "assume" it will be the same for Server2008, but I obviously do not have a 2008 server in my domain yet.

Hopefully MS will release a update or SP for Server 2003 that lets you modify the later OS's grouip policy

royal

All GPMC or the Group Policy Editor does in Vista/2k8 really does is provide a template that applies to ADMX files that are located on a Vista or Server 2008 machine. You can create a central store inside the Sysvol where the ADMX files are centrally located to keep a leash on which ADMX files are used.

With Pre-Vista/2k8, each GPO you create results in a 5MB ADM file being created in your SYSVOL. As you can imagine, this takes up quite a bit of space. Since creating a GPO on Server 2008 or Vista does not create the ADMX file, you can imagine how good this is for your SYSVOL as it won't have nearly as much bloat.

Now if you create the GPO within Server 2008 or Vista, it has the functionality to know about the added template features in a GPO. If you apply this GPO to all machines; whether they may be XP, Vista, Server 2003, or Server 2008, even if the GPO was created in Server 2008 with Vista/2k8 specific settings, that GPO will still apply to pre-Vista/2k8 machines. The pre-Vista/2k8 machines will simply ignore the settings it does not understand.

Hope that clears it up.