Fresh on the Web and Download Center: Windows Server 2012 Core Network Companion Guide: Group Policy Deployment

The Windows Server 2012 Core Network Companion Guide: Group Policy Deployment is now published:

This guide, which is authored by veteran Windows Server writer Judith Herman, provides instructions for deploying Group Policy settings to a set of client computers or users by using membership groups rather than account location in the organizational unit (OU) hierarchy of a domain.

The method described in this guide shows you how to create a single membership group into which you can add the user or computer accounts that are to receive a configuration through the use of GPOs. Membership in the group, rather than the account location in the OU hierarchy, determines whether the computer receives one of the GPOs associated with the membership group. In addition, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) filters are used to ensure that only the GPO with the settings that correspond to the version of Windows running on the computer is applied.

There are two main benefits to using this method to deploy GPOs:

  • It is totally independent of the OU structure of your domain. To apply a GPO to one computer no longer means moving computers to another OU or restructuring your OU hierarchy.
  • It is very easy to apply or stop applying the settings in a GPO. You simply remove the user or computer account from the membership group. This removes the user or computer from the scope of the GPO without affecting any other GPOs that apply to the user or computer.