Document on how group policies work

[Guest]

I am wondering if somebody has a good document on how policies work. I am
not looking for a technical, put you to sleep document. Just a simplified
version that would explain things such as if I have a policy applied to a
computer OU and another policy applied to a user OU, what policy would take
effect when the user logged onto that computer and they had different
settings? Another thing I would like to know is if you are applying a policy
to a computer OU and you put settings in the User Configuration setting of
the policy, does it apply to the computer? On the other side, when you are
applying a policy to a user OU and you put settings in the computer
configuration setting of the policy, does it apply to the user? If anybody
could explain this or point me to a doc, it would be much appreciated. Thank
you very much in advance.

 

[lforbes]

Hi,

if I have a policy applied to a computer OU and another policy applied
to a user OU, what policy would take effect when the user logged onto
that computer and they had different settings?

The Computer Configuration part of the Computer OU GP would affect the
Computer. The User Configuration part of the User OU GP would affect
the user. There are only a few settings in both the Computer Config
and the User Config and in these cases the computer GP Settings win.
The EXCEPTION to this rule is if Group Policy Loopback is enabled on
the Computer OU GP. In this case the User Config from the Computer OU
GP would affect the user as well or instead of the Users’ own GP
(depending on whether you chose Merge or replace)

Another thing I would like to know is if you are applying a policy to
a computer OU and you put settings in the User Configuration setting
of the policy, does it apply to the computer? On the other side, when
you are applying a policy to a user OU and you put settings in the
computer configuration setting of the policy, does it apply to the
user?

No to both cases. Computer Config section applies to computers and
User config applies to users.

Cheers,

Lara

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

See if http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/HappyGPOs.htm is
what you are after. If not, click the "Group Policy stuff" link in the left
pane for a set of links to other documents.