Group Policy is the administrator's primary tool for defining and controlling how programs, network resources, and the operating system behave for users and computers in an organization.
In an Active Directory environment, Group Policy is applied to users or computers on the basis of their membership in sites, domains, or organizational units.
Administrators can manage the Group Policy components listed in the table below.
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Administrative Templates | Sets registry-based policy |
| Security Settings | Configures security for domains, computers, and users |
| Software Installation | Assigns or publishes programs to users who should have them |
| Scripts | Specifies scripts for user logon/logoff and computer startup/shutdown |
| Folder Redirection | Places special folders, such as My Documents, on the network |
You must be an administrator to add Group Policy to a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and to use Group Policy in a saved console.
For information about opening a snap-in or using MMC, see Related Topics.