MLGPOs and Group Policy Processing
In earlier versions of Windows, Group Policy processing is applied in the following order:
- Local Computer Policy
- Site GPOs
- Domain GPOs
- Organizational unit GPOs
Policy is applied so that the policy setting closest to the user or computer takes precedence unless the ordering is changed using GPMC capabilities (overriding, blocking from above, disabling GPO or computer/user portions of the GPO). For example, if a certain policy is configured as Enabled at the domain level but Disabled at the OU level and if the computer and/or user objects are also contained at this OU level, the last value (Disabled) wins and is the effective value for the policy.
Windows 7 uses the same Group Policy processing order, as well as the "last writer wins" method. However, because Windows 7 includes three levels of local policy, processing this policy requires additional steps:
- Local Computer Policy
- Administrators and Non-Administrators Local Group Policy (user-based policy only)
- User-Specific Local Group Policy (user-based policy only)
For information on how to configure MLGPOs, see the section titled "Understanding Multiple Local Group Policy" earlier in this tutorial. For information on how to disable the processing of Multiple Local Group Policy in a domain environment, see the section titled "Configuring Group Policy Processing" later in this tutorial.
In this tutorial:
- Managing the Desktop Environment
- Understanding Group Policy in Windows 7
- Group Policy Before Windows Vista
- Group Policy in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
- New Group Policy Features in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
- Group Policy Policy Settings in Windows 7
- Understanding ADMX Template Files
- Types of ADMX Template Files
- Local Storage of ADMX Template Files
- Considerations When Working with ADMX Template Files
- Understanding Multiple Local Group Policy
- MLGPOs and Group Policy Processing
- Managing Group Policy
- Adding ADMX Templates to the Store
- Creating and Managing GPOs
- Using Starter GPOs
- Creating and Managing GPOs Using the GPMC
- Creating and Managing GPOs Using Windows PowerShell
- Editing GPOs
- Configuring Policy Settings
- Configuring Preference Items
- Managing MLGPOs
- Migrating ADM Templates to ADMX Format
- Converting ADM Template Files to ADMX Format
- Creating and Editing Custom ADMX Template Files
- Configuring Group Policy Processing
- Using Advanced Group Policy Management
- Troubleshooting Group Policy
- Enabling Debug Logging
- Using Group Policy Log View
- Using GPResult