Windows Home Server 2011 : Using the Local Group Policy Editor (part 1) - Working with Group Policies, Customizing the Windows Security Screen

Group policies are settings that control how Windows Home Server works. You can use them to customize the Windows Home Server interface, enable or disable features, specify security settings, and much more.

Group policies are mostly used by system administrators who want to make sure that novice users don’t have access to dangerous tools (such as the Registry Editor) or who want to ensure a consistent computing experience across multiple machines. Group policies are also ideally suited to situations in which multiple users share a single computer.

In this section, you learn the details of working with group policies using the Local Group Policy Editor, and I take you through a few more useful group policy settings.

1. Working with Group Policies

You implement group policies using the Local Group Policy Editor, which is a Microsoft Management Console snap-in. To start the Local Group Policy Editor, select Start (or Start, Run), type gpedit.msc, and then press Enter.

The Local Group Policy Editor window that appears is divided into two sections:

• Left pane— This pane contains a treelike hierarchy of policy categories, which is divided into two main categories: Computer Configuration and User Configuration. The Computer Configuration policies apply to all users and are implemented before the logon. The User Configuration policies apply only to the current user and, therefore, are not applied until that user logs on.

• Right pane— This pane contains the policies for whichever category is selected in the left pane.

The idea, then, is to open the tree’s branches to find the category you want. When you click the category, its policies appear in the right pane. For example, Figure 1 shows the Local Group Policy Editor window with the Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, Logon category selected.

Figure 1. When you select a category in the left pane, the category’s policies appear in the right pane.

In the right pane, the Setting column tells you the name of the policy, and the State column tells you the current state of the policy. Click a policy to see its description on the left side of the pane, as shown in Figure 20.1. To configure a policy, double-click it. The type of window you see depends on the policy:

• For simple policies, you see a window similar to the one shown in Figure 2. These kinds of policies take one of three states: Not Configured (the policy is not in effect), Enabled (the policy is in effect and its setting is enabled), and Disabled (the policy is in effect but its setting is disabled).

  Figure 2. Simple policies are Not Configured, Enabled, or Disabled.

  

• Other kinds of policies also require extra information when the policy is enabled. For example, Figure 3 shows the window for the Run These Programs at User Logon policy. When Enabled is activated, the Show button appears; you use it to specify one or more programs that run when the computer starts.

  Figure 3. More complex policies also require extra information such as, in this case, a list of programs to run at logon.

  

2. Customizing the Windows Security Screen

When you press Ctrl+Alt+Delete while logged on to Windows Home Server, you see the Windows Security screen, which contains the following links, as shown in Figure 4:

Figure 4. In Windows Home Server, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to display the Windows Security screen.

Of these five commands, the four (all except Switch User) are customizable using group policies. So if you find that you never use one or more of those commands, you can use group policies to disable them in the Windows Security screen. Here are the steps to follow:

Figure 5 shows the Windows Security screen box with the four links disabled.

Figure 5. You can use group policies to disable most of the buttons in the Windows Security dialog box.