Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista : Item-Level Targeting (part 1) - Battery Present, Computer Name, CPU Speed

By default, every user and computer in the scope of management of a GPO will receive the settings contained in the GPO. Before the availability of item-level targeting, there were a few options available to alter this default application of GPO settings. These options include:

• WMI Filtering

• Block Policy Inheritance

• Enforce (per GPO, which applies to all settings in the GPO)

• Security Filtering

All of these options for altering the default processing and inheritance of GPO settings affect, at a minimum, all of the settings in a GPO. This global control of the settings within a GPO is hard to work with, hard to manage, and very difficult to troubleshoot.

Group Policy Preferences offers item-level targeting, which provides a highly granular filtering capability that is nothing like the other options that alter the default processing of GPO settings. Item-level targeting provides many benefits over the other options, including:

• Item-level targeting for each setting

• Combining of Boolean item filters, to ensure that Group Policy Preferences settings target the correct user or computer

• Over 25 targeting items to choose from

• API-based foundation, which provides fast and efficient application of the Group Policy Preferences settings

Every Group Policy Preferences setting can be configured with item-level targeting. To configure the item-level targeting for a Group Policy Preferences setting, you must access the Common tab for the setting by following these steps:

1.	From the GPMC, edit a GPO that contains a Group Policy Preferences setting.
2.	Right-click any configured Group Policy Preferences setting, and then click Properties.
3.	In the Properties dialog box, select the Common tab.
4.	Select the Item-Level Targeting check box, and then click Targeting.
5.	The Targeting Editor appears, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. The Targeting Editor can be viewed after selecting the Item-Level Targeting check box and then clicking Targeting.

1. Item-Level Targeting Items

Every Group Policy Preferences setting has the full range of item-level targeting capabilities. Each item within the target provides the ability to allow or deny the application of the associated setting to the user or computer being controlled. The items within the Targeting Editor can all be referenced by clicking the New Item menu, which exposes the full list of items, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The New Item menu exposes the full list of items that can be included in the Targeting Editor.

Battery Present

A Battery Present targeting item allows a preference item to be applied to computers or users only if one or more batteries are present in the processing computer.

Note

If an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is connected to the processing computer, a Battery Present targeting item may detect the UPS and identify it as a battery.

Computer Name

A Computer Name targeting item, shown in Figure 3, allows a preference item to be applied to computers or users only if the computer’s name matches the specified computer name in the targeting item. The Computer Name text box accepts preference processing variables. Press F3 to display the Select a Variable dialog box, which lists the system-defined variables from which you can select.

Figure 3. You can configure a Computer Name item in item-level targeting for Group Policy Preferences.

CPU Speed

A CPU Speed targeting item allows a preference item to be applied to computers or users only if the processing computer’s CPU speed is greater than or equal to the value specified in the targeting item. The MHz box accepts preference processing variables. Press F3 to display the Select a Variable dialog box, which lists the system-defined variables from which you can select.