I have a lab with 15 machines running XP at the present using Steady State. Would like to upgrade to Windows 7 on all machine but Steady State is not supported. I have tried to install Server 2008 but can't get it running right, I think because we are on a virtual network supplied by another org. who controls the DNS. I think this is why my machines can not join the domain, it states the domain can not be found. My question is can I set up a work group and administate group polices from a set Windows 7 machine?

If you create a workgroup, you cannot centrally manage group policies. You'll have to rely on the local policy of each computer. If its only 15 systems and they all come from a single image, its not that bad and can be managed. to configure the local policy, click start, run, type gpedit.msc. Be advised that local policy affects all users that log on the computer. If you need to exclude certain users follow this guide. Filtering Administrators From Local Computer Policy http://www.anitkb.com/2010/06/filtering-administrators-from-local.html Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

Ok I went with Windows 7 on all machines and created a local workgroup for all machines everyone is talking to each other. What I need now is to know if there is a way once I configure a group policy on one machine is there a way to copy it to all the others instead of creating each one? Thanks Tom

I would say that the best approach is to include the policy in your base image. If you do not have a base image, you can copy the policy files from the source computer. Group Policy (hidden folder) is located here: %systemroot%\system32\GroupPolicy Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.