Back Up a Group Policy Object
Applies To: Windows Server 2008
To back up a Group Policy object
In the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) console tree, open Group Policy Objects in the forest and domain containing the Group Policy object (GPO) to back up.
To back up a single GPO, right-click the GPO, and then click Back Up. To back up all GPOs in the domain, right-click Group Policy Objects and click Back Up All.
In the Backup Group Policy Object dialog box, in the Location box, enter the path to the location in which you want to store the GPO backups, or click Browse, locate the folder in which you want to store the GPO backups, and then click OK.
In the Description box, type a description for the GPOs that you want to back up, and then click Back Up. If you are backing up multiple GPOs, the description will apply to all GPOs you back up.
After the operation completes, click OK.
Important
To secure backed-up GPOs, ensure that only authorized administrators have permission to access the folder to which you are exporting the GPOs.
Additional considerations
You must have Read permissions on the GPO and Write permissions on the folder containing the GPO backup to perform this procedure.
The backup function also serves as the export capability for GPOs.