Understanding preferences
Group Policy preferences are unmanaged configuration settings. That
is, they are configuration settings that the organization does not
consider mandatory but might consider recommended or advisable.
Unmanaged settings are pushed out to targeted user accounts or
computers, but unlike managed settings, which are always enforced,
unmanaged settings can be modified by users if they want to do
so.
Group Policy preferences are implemented using client-side
extensions (CSEs) and supplement the range of configurable settings
available within a GPO. Group Policy preferences can be used to manage
the configuration of the following versions of Windows:
-
Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
-
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
-
Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
-
Windows XP SP2 or later and Windows Server 2003 SP1 or
later
Note
Group Policy preferences and earlier versions of
Windows
To use Group Policy preferences to manage the configuration of
Windows XP or Windows Vista, you must download and install the CSEs
for these platforms from the Microsoft Download Center.
As Figure 1
shows, Group Policy preferences within a GPO can be configured by
opening the GPO in the Group Policy Management Editor. Preference
extensions can be found in both the Computer Configuration and User
Configuration sections of the GPO. By right-clicking on a preference
extension and selecting New from the context menu, you can create a
new preference item that can be used to
distribute the settings configured in the item to users or computer
targeted by the GPO.
Note
Preferences and local Group Policy
Unlike policies, which can be configured in both domain and
local GPOs, preferences can be configured only in domain GPOs. This
means that if you open the Local Computer Policy on a computer by
running gpedit.msc, you will not see a Preferences node under
Computer Configuration or User Configuration.
As Figure 1
shows, preferences can be categorized in two ways:
-
Windows Settings These are
preferences that can be used to configure different aspects of
the Windows environment for targeted users and computers.
-
Control Panel Settings
These are preferences that can be used to configure Control
Panel settings for targeted users and computers.
The different types of Windows Settings and Control Panel
Settings preferences are described later in this lesson.
Note
Overlap
A few policies and preferences overlap and allow you to
configure the same setting for targeted users or computers. To
resolve such situations, policies always have priority over
preferences.
Preference options are usually configured using properties
sheets. For example, Figure 2 shows the
General tab on the properties sheet of a New Drive preference item,
which can be used to configure new mapped drives for users or
computers targeted by a GPO. For most types of preference
extensions, when you create a new preference item you have a choice
of four actions to select from:
-
Create Creates a new
preference item for the targeted user or computer—for example, a
new mapped drive for users.
-
Delete Removes a previously
created preference itemfor the targeted user or computer—for
example, a previously configured mapped drive for users.
-
Replace Deletes and
re-creates the preference item for the targeted user or
computer—for example, deletes apreviously mapped drive and
creates a new one. The Replace action overwrites all existing
settings associated with the previously configured preference
item. If the preference item (for example, a drive mapping) does
not exist, the Replace action creates a new preference item (for
example, a new drive mapping) for the targeted user or
computer.
-
Update Modifies the
settings of an existing preference item, such as a mapped drive.
Update differs from Replace in that it updates only settings
defined within the preference item. If the preference item (for
example, a drive mapping) does not exist, the Update action
creates a new item (for example, a new drive mapping) for the
targeted user or computer.
The remaining configuration options available on the General
tab depend on which type of action you selected for the new
preference item.
Note
Default action
The default action for a new preference item is
Update.
