HiWe are planning our Windows 7 upgrade path and are having problems determining exactly what functionality is supported by different domain levels..... Whilst we have read many white papers and of other folks experiences we are finding the information quite difficult to obtain.Our domain is currently running at W2K3 R2 SP2 and need to know what Windows 7 functionality loss we would experience, if any, by running at this level?If there is functionality loss can it be addressed by schema upgrades etc??We would be grateful for any clarification or links to suitable documentation.Many thanksGreg

http://www.petri.co.il/understanding_function_levels_in_windows_2003_ad.htm for 2003 Serverhttp://www.petri.co.il/understanding-windows-server-2008-active-directory-domain-and-forest-functional-levels.htm for 2008 ServerLockergnome summarizes it pretty good http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2007/11/21/functional-levels-in-windows-server-2008-part-i/ MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

Thanks that's really useful - is there anything specifically to do with domain levels and Windows 7??CheersGreg

I've implemented a few Windows 7 boxes into a few of my customers Windows 03 domain schema's (SBS / Standard / Enterprise). I didn't have to make any changes to my domain, and all were successful. Scripts ran like a charm, group policy / permissions applied properly, no issues with connecting to Exchange, ect. With that being said, that doesn't mean there can't be issues, group policy in Server 08 / Vista / 7 has additional features in it that aren't in Server 03. My assumption is that this wouldn't affect the functionality of Windows 7, as it would just use the default settings. The only issue I ran into, was for example one of my customers uses SEP for AV protection. Pushing the install from SEP Management, or doing a \\server\sep install\setup.exe install would not work. I had to create a new install package that was not single exe / run live update install first/ reboot / then install setup from the package I created (only working with 11.04 and up). From there I could copy my symlink.xml over to the PC and replace in safe mode. When doing an analysis of implementing Windows 7 into your domain @ 2003, I would focus more on the applications / printers / plotters (if that apply's but using as an example) that you run, and confirming no issues with those.

Many thanks for that.So - is it possible to use and apply all Win 7 group policies in 2003 domain - does stuff like bitlocker and direct access work?ThanksGreg

Check out this thread - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserverGP/thread/846e1ccb-c9ba-474f-81ee-7106be104d39 Have a good one Josh