Ways to open the Group Policy snap-in

You can open Group Policy in several ways, depending on the action that you want to perform and the object to which you want to apply it. The ways in which you can open Group Policy are described in the following table.

To apply Group Policy to	Do this
The local computer	In the Group Policy console, edit the local Group Policy object, as described in To edit the local Group Policy object
Another computer	Open the local Group Policy object that is stored on the Windows XP network computer, as described in To open Group Policy as a stand-alone MMC snap-in, and then browse to the network computer. You must be an administrator of the network computer.
A site	Open Group Policy, as described in To open Group Policy from Active Directory Sites and Services, and then link a Group Policy object to the intended site.
A domain	Open Group Policy as described in To open Group Policy from Active Directory Users and Computers, and then link a Group Policy object to the intended domain.
An organizational unit	Open Group Policy as described in To open Group Policy from Active Directory Users and Computers, and then link a Group Policy object to the intended organizational unit. You can also link a Group Policy object to an organizational unit that is higher in the Active Directory hierarchy, so that the organizational unit can inherit Group Policy settings.
Any existing Group Policy object or set of Group Policy objects	Create and save your own custom Microsoft Management Console (MMC) For more information, see Microsoft Management Console

Opening Group Policy from the command line

It is sometimes useful to open Group Policy by clicking Start, clicking Run, and then typing a command. Or you can open Group Policy at the command prompt in an MS-DOS window. The following table contains some examples of what an administrator might type to open Group Policy under different circumstances.

Example command

Effect

gpedit.msc /gpcomputer:"ThisComputer"

Note

•	The quotation marks are mandatory.
•	There is no space after /gpcomputer:

You can edit the local Group Policy object on ThisComputer.

gpedit.msc /gpcomputer:"ThisComputer.WingTipToys.com"

Note

•	The quotation marks are mandatory.
•	There is no space after /gpcomputer:

You can edit the local Group Policy object on ThisComputer, with the computer specified in the DNS style rather than in the older NetBIOS style.

gpedit.msc /gpobject:"LDAP://CN={31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9},CN=Policies,CN=System,DC=WingTipToys,DC=com"

Note

•	The GUID for the Group Policy object above is a fictitious example.

You can edit an Active Directory-based Group Policy object.

For other command-line tools that relate to Group Policy, see Command-Line tools for Group Policy

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