Restore a backed-up Group Policy object using GPMC

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To restore a backed-up Group Policy object

Open Group Policy Management.
In the console tree, in the forest and domain containing the Group Policy object (GPO) that you want to restore, locate Group Policy Objects.

Where?
- Forest name\Domains\Domain name\Group Policy Objects.
Do one of the following:
- To restore a previous version of an existing GPO
- To restore a deleted GPO

Double-click Group Policy Objects, right-click the GPO which you want to restore, and then click Restore from Backup.
When the Restore Group Policy Object Wizard appears, follow the instructions and provide the appropriate information about the GPO that you want to restore, and then click Finish.
After the Restore Group Policy Object Wizard completes the restore operation, click OK.

Right-click Group Policy Objects and then choose Manage Backups.
In the Manage Backups dialog box, in the Backup location box, type the path to the backup folder. You can also use Browse to locate the backup folder.
In the Backed up GPOs box, select the GPO that you want to restore from the list of GPO backups shown, and then click Restore.
When prompted to confirm the restore operation, click OK.

Notes

You must have Edit, delete, and modify security permissions on the GPO and Read permissions on the folder containing the GPO backup to restore an existing GPO.
You must have privileges to create GPOs in the domain and Read permissions on the file system location of the backed up GPO to restore a GPO that has been deleted.
You can also restore an existing or deleted GPO using the Manage backups function by right-clicking Domains or Group Policy Objects.
The Manage Backups dialog box can be used to restore either an existing or deleted GPO. The Manage Backups dialog box can be opened either by right-clicking Domains or Group Policy Objects in a given domain. When Manage Backups is opened by right clicking Group Policy Objects, only GPO backups from that domain are shown. In contrast, when Manage Backups is opened by right clicking Domains, all GPO backups are shown, regardless of domain.
You can also perform this procedure or a related task by using one or more of the sample scripts included with Group Policy Management. For more information, see "Scripting Group Policy tasks" in Related Topics.

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