Group Policy Preferences

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

What are the major changes?

The following new types of preference items can be managed by using Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). The client-side extensions for these new types of preference items are included in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7:

• Power Plan (Windows Vista and later) preference items

• Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items

• Immediate Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items

• Internet Explorer 8 preference items

What do Group Policy Preferences do?

Group Policy Preferences let you manage drive mappings, registry settings, local users and groups, services, files, and folders without the need to learn a scripting language. You can use preference items to reduce scripting and the number of custom system images needed, standardize management, and help secure your networks. By using preference item-level targeting, you can streamline desktop management by reducing the number of Group Policy Objects needed.

What new functionality does this feature provide?

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with RSAT improve several preference extensions with the addition of new types of preference items, providing support for power plans; scheduled tasks and immediate tasks for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7; and Windows Internet Explorer 8.

Power Plan (Windows Vista and later) preference items

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with RSAT improve the Power Options preference extension with the addition of Power Plan (Windows Vista and later) preference items.

Why is this change important?

You can use Power Plan preference items to configure default sleep and display options for managing power consumption for computers, reducing power consumption and benefitting the environment. With Power Plan preference items, you can let users make changes to those default options. Although you can also manage power options by using enforced policy settings, some user roles (such as mobile users) might need the flexibility to change those settings on their own.

The user interface for Power Plan preference items resembles that for advanced power settings in Power Options in Control Panel. This similarity makes the functionality easier to learn. As with any other type of preference item, you can use preference item-level targeting to restrict the computers and users to which a Power Plan preference item is applied.

Are there any dependencies?

Power Plan preference items can only be used to manage power consumption for computers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. For computers that are running Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, use Power Options (Windows XP) preference items and Power Scheme (Windows XP) preference items instead.

Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with RSAT improve the Scheduled Tasks preference extension with the addition of Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items.

Why is this change important?

You can use Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items to create, replace, update, and delete tasks and their associated properties. Although you can still use Scheduled Task preference items to manage tasks for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista, Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items provide a user interface similar to the Task Scheduler in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, together with the options that it provides. As with any other type of preference item, you can use preference item-level targeting to restrict the computers and users to which a Scheduled Task preference item is applied.

Are there any dependencies?

Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items can only be used to manage tasks for computers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. For computers that are running Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista or Windows XP, use Scheduled Task preference items instead.

Immediate Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with RSAT improve the Scheduled Tasks preference extension with the addition of Immediate Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items.

Why is this change important?

You can use Immediate Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items to create tasks to be run immediately upon the refresh of Group Policy—and then removed. Previously, Immediate Task preference items were not supported for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Immediate Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items provide an intuitive user interface similar to the Task Scheduler in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, together with the options that it provides. As with any other type of preference item, you can use preference item-level targeting to restrict the computers and users to which an Immediate Task preference item is applied.

Are there any dependencies?

Immediate Task (Windows Vista and later) preference items can only be used to manage tasks for computers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. For computers that are running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP, use Immediate Task (Windows XP) preference items instead.

Internet Explorer 8 preference items

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with RSAT improve the Internet Settings preference extension with the addition of Internet Explorer 8 preference items.

Why is this change important?

You can use Internet Explorer 8 preference items to update Internet options for Internet Explorer 8. As with any other type of preference item, you can use preference item-level targeting to restrict the computers and users to which an Immediate Task preference item is applied.

What works differently?

Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 7 have different default settings, so that the corresponding types of preference items have different default settings as well.

Are there any dependencies?

Internet Explorer 8 preference items can only be used to manage Internet options for Internet Explorer 8. To manage Internet options for earlier versions of Internet Explorer, use Internet Explorer 7 preference items or Internet Explorer 5 and 6 preference items.