Group Policy Migration Best Practices

This article's purpose is to give a brief and simple overview on how to migrate a Group Policy Object from a Department Domain into Campus Active Directory.

There are a couple of methods for migrating Group Policy Objects (GPOs). One approach is to manually recreate each Group Policy along with their settings, although this can be a cumbersome and challenging task for some departments. We recommend migrating GPOs by first creating an inventory of your policies, and then using Group Policy Migration Tables to import these configurations into Campus Active Directory. You can accomplish this by following these steps:

Inventory GPOs from Source Domain

  1. Open PowerShell as an Administrator on a computer that has access to the Source Domain.
  2. Run the following code to export the GPO information to a CSV file. You can change the path as needed: "Get-GPO -All | Export-Csv -Path "C:\AllGPOs.csv -NoTypeInformation"

This command retrieves all GPOs in the Source Domain and exports their information to a CSV file.

  1. Open the generated CSV on a computer that has Microsoft Excel installed for a more user-friendly viewing experience.

Backing Up GPO from the Source Domain:

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC).
  2. In the 'Group Policy Objects' section, locate the GPO you want to back up. Right-click on the GPO and select 'Backup.'
  3. Select a destination location for the GPO backup and, if necessary, include a description. Ensure that you save your backup in a location that is readily accessible when opening GPMC within Campus Active Directory.

Importing to Campus Active Directory:

  1. Using your OU account, open the GPMC, and right-click on the root container 'Domains.' Select 'Open Migration Table Editor.'
  2. In the migration table editor, go to the 'Tools' menu and click 'Populate from Backup.'
  3. In the Migration Table Editor, match the users, groups, or UNC paths with their counterparts in Campus Active Directory.
  4. Save the edited Migration table to the same directory where you saved the GPO backup.
  5. Create a new Group Policy and name it according to the Standard Active Directory naming conventions. KB Article: Campus Active Directory - Naming Convention
  6. Locate your newly created GPO, right-click on it, and select 'Import Settings.' If you created and linked the group policy immediately, you may need to search for it in the 'Group Policy Objects' container at the bottom of the directory.
  7. The 'Import Settings' Wizard should open. Click 'Next' until you reach the 'Backup Location' screen and browse to the location of your backup file.
  8. Select the GPO from which you want to import settings and click 'Next.'
  9. Once the Wizard finishes scanning the backup, click 'Next.'
  10. On the 'Migrating References' screen, choose 'Using this migration table to map them in the destination GPO,' and browse to the migration table created in steps one through four. Click 'Next.'
  11. Click 'Finish' to import your settings.

 



KeywordsGPO, GPMC, "Group Policy", "Group Policy Management Console"   Doc ID131570
OwnerRichie M.GroupIdentity and Access Management
Created2023-09-20 08:38:08Updated2023-09-20 11:59:33
SitesIdentity and Access Management
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