Windows Server - Group Policy Organization

How are group policies organized?

GPO policy settings are organized by Software, Windows, and Templates

Within User and Computer Configurations the policy settings are organized by Software Settings, Windows Settings, and Administrative Templates.

Section	Description
Software Settings	Contains software settings that you can deploy to the user or the computer. Software that you deploy to a user is specific to that user. Software that you deploy to the computer is available to all users of that computer.
Windows Settings	Contains script settings and security settings for both user and computer, and Internet Explorer maintenance settings for the user configuration.
Administrative Templates	Contain hundreds of settings that modify the registry to control various aspects of the user and computer environment. Microsoft or other vendors may create new administrative templates, such as Microsoft Office templates, which you can download from the Microsoft website, and then add to the Group Policy Management Editor.

Local GPOs. All computers that are running Microsoft Windows client or server operating systems also have available local GPOs. Local policy settings only apply to the local machine, but you can export and import them to other computers. GPO Versioning. Not all GPO settings apply to all versions of Windows Server and Windows operating systems. Each new version introduces new settings and capabilities that only apply to that specific version. If a computer has a Group Policy setting applied that it cannot process, it simply ignores the setting.