Information
Windows has three layers of local GPOs:
- Local Group Policy Local Group Policy is the only local GPO that allows both computer configuration and user configuration settings to be applied to all users of the computer.
- Administrators and Non-Administrators local Group Policy Administrators and Non-Administrators local Group Policy contains only user configuration settings. This policy is applied based on whether the user account being used is a member of the local Administrators group.
- User-specific local Group Policy User-specific local Group Policy contains only user configuration settings. This policy is applied to individual users and groups.
These layers of local GPOs are processed in the following order: local Group Policy, Administrators and Non-Administrators local Group Policy, user-specific local Group Policy.
This tutorial will show you how to apply
local group policies to only a
specific user or group instead of all users in Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
You must be logged in as an
administrator to be able to do this tutorial.
1. Open the Start Menu, then type
mmc.exe in the search box and press Enter.
NOTE: In Windows 8, you could press Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, then type mmc.exe, and click/tap on OK instead.
2. If prompted by UAC, then click on
Yes (Windows 7/8) or
Continue (Vista).
3. In the MMC Console window, click on
File (Menu bar) and
Add/Remove Snap-in. (see screenshot below)
4. In the left pane, select
Group Policy Object Editor, and click on the
Add button. (see screenshot below)
5. Click on the
Browse button. (see screenshot below)
6. Click on the
Users tab, select an available
user account (ex:
Test) or a
group from the list that you want to only have group policy applied to, and click on
OK. (see screenshot and table below)
Note
The other names (Test and User-name) listed are user accounts on my computer. You will have your own user account names listed instead.
Group Name |
Description |
Administrator |
Name of Built-in Administrator account user |
HomeGroupUser$ |
All HomeGroup Users group |
Administrators |
All Users in the administrators group |
Non-Administrators |
All users except administrators group
|
7. Click on the
Finish button. (see screenshot below)
8. Click on
OK. (see screenshot below)
9. In the MMC Console window, click on
File (Menu bar) and
Save As. (see screenshot below)
10. Select to save to your
Desktop, type in a name (ex: Test_Group_Policy) that you would like to have for this "specific" group policy MSC file, then click on the
Save button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can use any name you like, but it would make it easier for you to know what user (ex: Test) or group this "specific" group policy MMC console was for later if you included the user or group name.
11. Move the MSC file (ex: Test_Group_Policy.msc) for the specific user or group to where you would to keep it saved at. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can also Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu this MSC file.
12. Whenever you open this MSC file (ex: Test_Group_Policy.msc), you will be able to apply group policies to only this specific user (ex: Test) or group. (see screenshot below)
13. Repeat the above steps if you wish to create a new MSC group policy file for a different specific user or group.