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Welcome to GPOGUY.COM!
What is Windows Group Policy? Group Policy is the main configuration
management technology available in Microsoft Windows. It leverages Active
Directory and provides control over security configuration, desktop lockdown and
software deployment, to name just a few things, in a Windows environment.
Because of the power and complexity of Group Policy, many people find it
daunting to use the technology to its fullest. That's why I created this site.
I have put together this site as a resource for all
things Group Policy related--hopefully with more advanced information than
you'll find elsewhere. I'll be adding more stuff as I can, including some cool
scripts and Group Policy-related utilities that I and others are writing. Check out What's New below for the latest additions.
Also, if you have a need for commercial, fully
supported Group Policy Management solutions, you can visit the company we
started--SDM Software,
for some innovative Group Policy management solutions.
Thanks for stopping by.
Darren Mar-Elia
Subscribe to
updates of GPOGUY.COM
What's New
April, 4, 2008:
SDM Software ships
the news Desktop Policy
Manager product to simplify desktop configuration management using Group
Policy!
January 29, 2008:
New PowerShell version of
RGPRefresh remote GP
refresh utility now available on the
SDM Software
Freeware page
November 9, 2007:
New PowerShell cmdlets for GPMC now available on SDM Software
Freeware Page
July 30, 2007:
SDM Software, started
by GPOGUY.COM founder Darren Mar-Elia, announces the
release of the GPExpert™ Scripting
Toolkit for PowerShell, which finally provides script-based access into Group
Policy Object settings within local or domain-based GPOs. For more information,
check out the
SDM Software Products Page!
July, 03, 2007:
New PowerShell cmdlet
new-SDMgpo lets you use PowerShell to create
new GPO!
March,
30, 2007: New get-SDMgpo PowerShell cmdlet
for retrieving GPO information from a domain.
Feb, 22, 2007: Updated version of the
Vista Central Store Creator Utility that fixes a bug with
SYSVOL shares that were redirected to volumes other than the default. Also, a new
VBScript that lets you disable the local GPO on pre-Vista systems can be found
on the Tools page.
Jan, 26,2007: New Vista Central Store Creator Utility
released. This simple tool provides a GUI for creating the Vista Central Store
for ADMX and ADML files.
Jan, 25, 2007: I just did a quick update to gpolog.adm
that adds the super-verbose option for userenv logging and also adds the ability
to enable Software Restriction Policy logging.
Dec
28, 2006: Jorge de Almeida Pinto [MVP-DS] (http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/jorge/default.aspx)
updated my event log ADM to provide
additional Group Policy control of R2 Server's DFS-R, Forwarded Events and
Hardware Events logs.
Dec
18, 2006: My new company, SDM Software,
which makes Group Policy management products, released its first product today--
the GPHealth Reporter!
-- which reports on the health of GP processing on a local or remote system.
Dec
12, 2006: Microsoft has
released a nice paper describing how to use the new Group Policy features in
Vista. I have a link to it here.
It also includes an explanation of why
logon scripts sometimes won't work in Vista and the workaround.
Nov
22, 2006: Finally! A new
training video--"Using Administrative Templates Policy", on the
Training Page
Nov 17, 2006: Microsoft released a new free download that let's you migrate
custom ADM files to Vista's new ADMX format. It also includes a free ADMX editor
to create ADMXs from scratch. You can get it
here.
Nov
2, 2006: Now that IE 7 is here, you can prevent your users from getting it
automatically in a Windows Update download by using a Group Policy template
provided by MS. Check out the IE 7
Blocker Toolkit for the ADM file required to do this. Keep in mind that
the setting in this ADM is a "preference", not a policy, and therefore must be
disabled rather than set to "Not Configured" when you're ready to deliver IE 7.
Oct, 05, 06: The GPSI Viewer tool has been updated to include Date Created
and Date Last Modified fields here
Sept 27, 06: Check out the port of my gpolog.adm file to the new Vista ADMX
format on the gpolog Page
Sept. 15, 06: I've got a new whitepaper that I've written, entitled "How
Secure is Group Policy?", that's on the DesktopStandard website at
http://www.desktopstandard.com/whitepapers.aspx.
July 27, 06: Lots of tool
updates! I've updated both the PolViewer and SIViewer (now called GPSI Viewer)
utilities with some requested features. I've also got a new tool call WMIFTest
that lets you view, print out and validate WMI Filters against computers in your
environment so that you can see ahead of time where they will evaluate true or
false. Check it out on the Tools page!
July 20, 06: I'll be presenting three GP and related sessions at the
upcoming TechMentor and WinConnections conferences--both in Las Vegas this Fall.
If you're interested, check them out at
www.techmentorevents.com or
www.winconnections.com. NOTE! If
you plan to attend TechMentor, when registering, enter a promo code of "mar-elia"
on the registration page so that they know you found out about the show from
this site!
July 20, 06: New training
video entitled, "Basic Group Policy Troubleshooting", on the Training page.
May
19, 06: New training video entitled, "Understanding Domain Account Policy",
on the Training page.
May
18, 06: New version (1.6) of
the rgprefresh utility that adds additional options for suppressing reboots and
logoffs during a refresh event, on the Tools page.
May
5, 06: New version of Group
Policy logging ADM file that includes some GPMC logging is available on the Tools page!.
April 4, 06:
New version of rgprefresh utility is
available on the Tools page!
March 21, 06:
The latest training video, #100.4 is up
on the Training page! This wraps up the 3-part
training series on GPMC. Next, I'll be diving into individual GP features.
January 13, 06: Microsoft has released a number of new
GP-related resources, including an FAQ, information on GP changes in Windows
Vista and Longhorn server and information on the new ADMX template format coming
in Vista. See the Resources page for links.
January 6, 06: Checking out the new Group Policy Training page,
where I'm posting video training clips about all aspects of Group Policy!
Check the ones I have out there now and
let me know
what you think!
December 21, 05:
Well, there's a couple new things going
on today. The first is that like everyone else on the planet, I've started a
blog. And as you
can imagine, its related to Group Policy. The nice people at dirteam.com are
hosting it so check it out and let me know what you think. Speaking of the blog,
the most recent posting on the blog is about the Registry.pol file, which holds
the registry-related policy settings within a GPO. Within that blog entry I talk
about my newest utility--PolViewer--which
you can download from the Tools page on this site.
December 5, 05:
Added new custom ADM template that lets you
set event log size and retention methods for the AD, DNS and FRS logs on your AD
Domain Controllers. These logs are not supported within the native event log
settings under Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings.
October 21, 05: Check out the FAQ page for an interesting new KB article
that describes a hotfix that lets you ensure that the DC that handles requests
for AD information is also the same one that handles requests for SYSVOL
information. This solves the problem where a workstation might use one DC to get
its list of GPOs to process and another DC to copy the settings from the GPTs
for those GPOs.
Jun 7, 05: The new Group
Policy book is out, published as part of the 7-book Microsoft Windows
Server 2003 Resource Kit, 2nd edition and also available individually for sale!! The book, called the
"Windows Group Policy Guide" , can also be
purchased as part of the complete Resource Kit.
Apr 14, 05: I've created a page
that shows a quick analysis of the differences in ADM files between the new
Server 2003, SP1 release and the ADMs provided with XP, SP2. Check it out
here.
Feb 4, 05: The IE Maintenance/AppData
Folder Redirection bug in XP, SP2 is finally described on the KB and can be
found at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888254/EN-US
Jan 27, 05: A couple of new
updates! First, Microsoft has launched a new web-based Group Policy
resource--its called a "Wiki", at
www.grouppolicywiki.com. Lots of good info there contributed by Microsoft
folks as well as anyone who wants to contribute.
Second update is related to the IE
Maintenance hotfix mentioned below. I've been told that that KB # is not
correct, that it is just a placeholder that MS uses internally. I have yet to
find a real KB article on this issue, but have heard from some folks that they
got the fix from MS and it worked for them.
Dec 22 2004: UPDATE on the IE
Maintenance/AppData Folder Redirection issue!
Microsoft has released a hotfix for this problem that you can get by calling
Microsoft support. There will be a KB article coming out to describe the issue.
Its not out yet, but the article # will be
888254.
Nov/27/04: New links to
two new Microsoft whitepapers on GP on the
Resources
page and a new tool for automatically converting ADMs to Excel files on the Tools
page.
Nov/8/04 UPDATE: It
appears that this IE Maintenance problem occurs when you are also using Folder
Redirection policy to redirect Application Data. Microsoft is still working on
the issue.
Oct/20/04: NOTE:
I've seen several reports that people are having problems with IE Maintenance
Policy not applying after installing XP, SP2 on their client machines. According
to Microsoft representatives, this is a known issue that they are currently
working on. I will post any updates that I hear about here!
Sept/21/04: New whitepaper on GP storage on the
FAQs &
Whitepapers page. Also more
FAQs, including a new tip on how to log IE Maintenance policy processing!
Aug/29/04: Just Added! Subscribe
to the GPTALK mailing list and the GPOGUY newsletter on the
mailing list page
8/19/04: New GPTIME utility
returns the last time Group Policy processing occurred on a local or remote
machine and how long it took. Check it out on the
Tools & Scripts page.
7/30/04: Free GPO-based
utility for setting Power Management settings
here
06/23/04:
New information from Microsoft on
updated policy settings for XP, SP2
here
06/05/04:
Check out the new
SIViewer
utility, which lets you view all applications deployed via Group Policy, on the
Tools & Scripts
page.
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