Windows Administration

Group Policy Management

Created and linked Group Policy Objects for desktop customization, drive mapping, password and lockout settings, endpoint restrictions, logon messaging, software deployment, and folder redirection.

Overview

This project expanded the lab from basic identity services into centralized user and computer configuration management. Policies were validated with gpupdate, gpresult, and Event Viewer.

Policies Implemented

  • Corporate desktop wallpaper using a UNC path
  • Department drive mappings using Item-Level Targeting
  • Password complexity, history, length, and age settings
  • Account lockout settings
  • Control Panel and USB storage restrictions
  • Interactive logon banner
  • 7-Zip and Google Chrome MSI deployment
  • Documents folder redirection to centralized storage

Drive Mapping

  • Z: Company
  • I: IT
  • H: HR
  • S: Sales

Item-Level Targeting assigned departmental drives based on Active Directory security-group membership.

Troubleshooting

  • Corrected wallpaper deployment caused by an incorrect UNC path and filename.
  • Used gpresult to diagnose missing mapped drives and discovered the GPO was not linked.
  • Diagnosed folder-redirection failures with gpresult and Event Viewer.
  • Corrected missing NTFS permissions by adding Authenticated Users to the root UserData folder.

Results

  • Centralized user and computer configuration through Active Directory.
  • Automatically assigned resources according to department membership.
  • Deployed software and redirected user data without manually configuring each workstation.

Lessons Learned

A GPO must be linked to the correct scope before it can apply. I also learned that gpresult, Event Viewer, share permissions, and NTFS permissions are essential when troubleshooting policy deployments.

Screenshot

Active Directory lab architecture
A view of my Windows Server Group Policy Configurations.