[gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

Thank you Jamie...I'll read up on it. I appreciate all the info! :)

Shane M. Williford
Systems Administrator
MCSE, MCSA Sec, Sec+, Net+, A+
Mazuma Credit Union
9300 Troost
Kansas City, MO 64131
shane.williford@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:shane.williford@xxxxxxxxxx>
816-361-4194 x6012

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Nelson, Jamie
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 2:00 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

Shane,

Yes, you can use it; and yes, you need at least one Server 2008 or Vista SP1 
system from which to create/edit GPOs using that CSE.

The other thing you'll have to do is deploy the CSE to all of the systems you 
want to manage. List member Jakob Heidelberg wrote a nifty script to install it 
via computer startup (available 
here<http://heidelbergit.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-install-gpp-cses-using-startup.html>)
 or if your organization already uses WSUS, the CSEs for the different OSes are 
published there. Just keep in mind that some XP/2003 systems might need a 
prereq hotfix first.

If you're interested, there is tons of reading on the subject. I've included a 
few links of interest below.

Group Policy Preferences Frequently Asked Questions 
(FAQ)<http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/technologies/featured/gp/preferencesfaq.mspx>
Information about new Group Policy preferences in Windows Server 
2008<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943729> (Includes download links for CSE)
GP Policy vs. Preference vs. GP 
preferences<http://blogs.technet.com/grouppolicy/archive/2008/03/04/gp-policy-vs-preference-vs-gp-preferences.aspx>
 (explains the differences in terminology)
Group Policy Preferences 
Overview<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=42e30e3f-6f01-4610-9d6e-f6e0fb7a0790&displaylang=en>
 (Microsoft white paper)
Group Policy Preferences 
Screencast<http://edge.technet.com/Media/Group-Policy-Preferences-Screencast/> 
(Demonstration of how to configure preference items)
Group  Policy related changes in Windows Server 
2008<http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Group-Policy-related-changes-Windows-Server-2008-Part3.html>
 (WindowsSecurity.com walkthrough by Jakob; Parts 3-4 are specifically related 
to GPP)

Regards,

Jamie Nelson | Infrastructure Consultant | BI&T Operations | Devon Energy | 
Work: 405.552.8054 | http://www.dvn.com<http://www.dvn.com/>

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Shane Williford
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:31 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

Wow...if only I could get rid of, or virtually diminish logon scripting! :)

My org is 2K3 SP2 and clients are XP. Can I use that tool, or do I have to have 
at least 1 2K8 or vista SP1 box?

Looks like I need to do more reading on this...thanks for all that info 
Jamie...it's MUCH appreciated!

Shane M. Williford
Systems Administrator
MCSE, MCSA Sec, Sec+, Net+, A+
Mazuma Credit Union
9300 Troost
Kansas City, MO 64131
shane.williford@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:shane.williford@xxxxxxxxxx>
816-361-4194 x6012

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Nelson, Jamie
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:28 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

GPP stands for Group Policy Preferences. It is a new client side extension 
(CSE) for Group Policy that extends control of what you can do to things like 
Power Management in Windows XP, adding/changing registry entries, mapping 
drives/printers, copying files, etc. Believe me, that is only the beginning of 
what you can do. As Darren said, the days of startup/logon scripting are 
virtually over, unless of course you're doing something extremely complex.

GPP developed from a DesktopStandard product called PolicyMaker that was sold 
as a third party add-on to Group Policy. It was so innovative that Microsoft 
bought it up and included it for FREE with Server 2008, and of course renamed 
it. It is basically the exact same product, although some functionality was 
removed from the original version and Microsoft changed the item-level 
targeting interface.

Understand that a Server 2008 domain is not required for this. The only catch 
is that you have to have to run GPMC from a Server 2008 or Vista SP1 RSAT 
system to create and edit the policies. Of course, you'll also have to deploy 
the CSE to your Windows XP, Vista, and Server 2003 systems before they'll be 
able to read and understand the GPP specific settings. Unfortunately, GPP is 
not available for Windows 2000.

Jamie Nelson | Infrastructure Consultant | BI&T Operations | Devon Energy | 
Work: 405.552.8054 | http://www.dvn.com<http://www.dvn.com/>

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Shane Williford
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:09 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

May I ask what GPP is? Is that new in Vista/2K8?

Shane M. Williford
Systems Administrator
MCSE, MCSA Sec, Sec+, Net+, A+
Mazuma Credit Union
9300 Troost
Kansas City, MO 64131
shane.williford@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:shane.williford@xxxxxxxxxx>
816-361-4194 x6012

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:08 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

Yep. My new mantra is that with GPP, you should never have to run a script 
(logon or startup) based configuration task again.

Darren

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Jason B. Halladay
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 8:42 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

Thanks Darren.  I'll take a look (again) at that.  I remembered that we also 
use the start script to remove certain groups from the local administrators 
group so we'll need to continue with the scripts or go to GPPs.  I just worked 
with GPPs yesterday for the first time (in a class) and am very impressed with 
what can be done now using said GPPs.  Many of the tasks that we currently use 
GPO startup scripts to do can now be done much easier and cleaner using GPPE.  
Now to deploy the GPP CSEs to all our clients....  :)
Jason

On 6/18/08 8:48 AM, Darren Mar-Elia wrote:
Jason-
There are two sides to Restricted Groups. If you open the dialog you see 
"Members of this Group" at the top and "This group is a member of" at the 
bottom. So, lets say you wanted to add the "Help Desk Admins" group to the 
local Administrators group on a set of workstations. You would right-click the 
Restricted Groups node, choose Add Group and enter in or browse "Help Desk 
Admins". Then, in the "This group is a member of" dialog, you would add the 
local Administrators group and, voilá!

Hope that helps.

Darren

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
[mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jason B. Halladay
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 7:41 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Adding an account to a local group

Hi Jamie,
I am one of those that believe Restricted Groups doesn't just "add" an account 
to the local administrators group without removing any other members. Can you 
explain (or point me to a reference on) how to use "restricted groups" to 
simply add another member without removing any members?
We most commonly use group policy to run a startup script that adds members to 
the local administrators group. This works well but if using the restricted 
groups policy would work, that would be one less script we'd have to maintain.
Thanks,
Jason

On 6/13/08 7:58 AM, Nelson, Jamie wrote:
You can do this with Restricted Groups policy. Normally people think of it as 
only able to mirror the membership listed (I was one of them), but you can 
actually use it to "add" a member without removing any of the existing ones.

Other options would be to use a computer startup script, or the GPP extensions. 
GPP doesn't REQUIRE 2008 Server to work;  you just have to have it or Vista SP1 
(with RSAT pack) from which to create/edit GPOs utilizing those extensions.

Jamie Nelson | Infrastructure Consultant | BI&T Operations | Devon Energy | 
Work: 405.552.8054 | http://www.dvn.com<http://www.dvn.com/>

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
[mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jonathan Finkbiner
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 7:21 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [gptalk] Adding an account to a local group

I would like to add an account to the local administrators group on an OU. I've 
been browsing through Computer Configuration options and I don't see anything 
promising. Does anyone one have a suggestion?

No, I do not have the ability to use server 2008 options. :)


Jonathan Finkbiner
Support Analyst
Information Services
Lifestyle Family Fitness

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