How to Backup and Restore Your SBS and Default Group Policies.

In Windows 2003 server we have 2 default policies

1. The default domain

2. The default domain controller policy

In SBS 2003 we have 7 additional Group Policies, In SBS 2003 R2 we have 3 more for WSUS.If the SBS Vista Update is configured there will be another GP.

There may be issues in the domain when a policy is corrupt or while fixing NTFRS issues you may lose the policies. DCGPOFIX will only get default policies back and you may have to restore from another SBS 2003 server. It is a good idea to backup your GPs in spite of having a regular backup program. Check the easy steps below to backup and restore Group Policies.

 

 

HOW TO BACKUP?

1. Open Group Policy Management Console (Start – Run -- gpmc.msc).

2. From within GPMC expand domain.local and then Group Policy Objects.

3. Right click on Group Policy Objects and select Backup All.

4. Specify a location and a description for your Backup.

 

5. Click the Backup Button. You will get a progress bar which will show the status of the operation.

 

 

And you have a backup of the GPs on your server.

 

Restore Procedure:

1. These are the two default GPs in windows server 2003 and are necessary to run the DC stably. You cannot delete these policies.

 

 

2. To restore these policies from GPMC, right click on Group Policy Objects and select Manage Backups.

3. Select the Group Policy object we want to restore and click on restore. You will only be allowed to restore one policy at a time. You can see the progress of the operation in the progress.

4. Once policies are restored you need to re-link them to their appropriate OU. All of the SBS policies are linked at the domain level while The Small Business Server Auditing Policy is linked to the Domain Controllers OU.