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# How to back up GPOs

Join us in this tutorial and discover **how to back up GPOs** so that you can save them for future deployments, redeploy them in other environments, or survive disasters.

Usually, we use GPOs to \*\*develop configurations centrally \*\*to later **deploy them to the computers**, thus making the administrator's interaction with the endpoint computers minimal, achieving a **considerable saving of administrative time** as well as the possibility of making changes across the entire infrastructure dynamically.

In this tutorial, as it could not be otherwise, we will not only make the backup, but also restore it, dividing this tutorial into:

* Prerequisites and recommendations.
* Step 1. Back up all GPOs.
* Step 2. Back up a single GPO.
* Step 3. Restore a backup of the GPOs.

 

### **How to back up GPOs?**

 

#### **Prerequisites and recommendations:**

To successfully complete this tutorial and be able to **back up GPOs** the following will be necessary:

* **Be registered on the Platform** and be **registered** in it after doing [Log in](https://admin.jotelulu.com/){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}.
* Have a **Windows Server machine with AD DS Server** installed.
* An account with **administrator privileges**.

 

#### **Step 1. Back up all GPOs**

The first thing to do is **access "Group Policy Management" or Group Policy Administrator** to be able to access the settings and make the backup.

For this, we open Run, for example by pressing "Windows + R", or by typing **"gpmc.msc" in the Run bar** (1), then you should **click on the program shown** (2).

![Paso 1. Lanzamos la consola de administración de políticas de grupo
para hacer copia de todas las
GPO](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-1.-Lanzamos-la-consola-de-administracion-de-politicas-de-grupo-para-hacer-copia-de-todas-las-GPO.jpg)\\

Step 1. We launch the Group Policy Management console to back up all GPOs

Once inside the "Group Policy Management" console, the tree must be expanded to reach the GPO settings, for this **expand "Forest > Domains > Domain > Group Policy Objects"** (3) where "Domain" must be replaced with the name of the domain being worked on.

Once the path is located, you should **click on "Group Policy Objects"** and **select "Back Up All..."**(4) to access the backup console.

![Paso 1. Desplegaremos el árbol de GPM hasta Gropu Policy Object y
lanzaremos la copia de todas las
GPO](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-1.-Desplegaremos-el-arbol-de-GPM-hasta-Gropu-Policy-Object-y-lanzaremos-la-copia-de-todas-las-GPO.jpg)\\

Step 1. We will expand the GPM tree to Group Policy Object and launch the backup of all GPOs

At this point we will see the **pop-up window "Back Up Group Policy Object"** in which you must **fill in the path where you want to save the backup** (5), and where you can **click on "Browse..."** to browse and select the path.

Also, you can **give a description** (6), which is more than enough protection.

Once everything is filled out, you must **click on "Back Up"** (7) to start the backup operation.

![Paso 1. Proporcionamos la localización y el nombre para la copia de
seguridad](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-1.-Proporcionamos-la-localizacion-y-el-nombre-para-la-copia-de-seguridad.jpg)\\

Step 1. We provide the location and name for the backup

At this point we will have a window in which the progress of the backup (8) can be seen through the classic progress bar; moreover, information about the progress can be seen in text mode.

When the backup process ends, **a summary can be seen** (9), showing those that were done correctly and those that failed.

Once everything has been reviewed, you should **click on "OK"** (10).

![Paso 1. Esperamos mientras se hace la copia y revisamos el
resultado](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-1.-Esperamos-mientras-se-hace-la-copia-y-revisamos-el-resultado.jpg)\\

Step 1. We wait while the backup is made and review the result

At this point, it is advisable to go to the path where we made the backup and check that everything is available.

![Paso 1. Comprobamos que los ficheros de copia de seguridad se han
generado en la ruta del
backup](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-1.-Comprobamos-que-los-ficheros-de-copia-de-seguridad-se-han-generado-en-la-ruta-del-backup.jpg)\\

Step 1. We check that the backup files have been generated in the backup path

With this everything should be finished.

 

#### **Step 2. Back up a single GPO**

In this case, we assume the reader is starting outside the applications, so again the first thing to do is **access "Group Policy Management" or Group Policy Administrator** to be able to access the settings and make the backup.

For this, we open Run, for example by pressing "Windows + R", or by typing **"gpmc.msc" in the Run bar** (11), then, you should **click on the program shown** (12).

![Paso 2. Lanzamos la consola de administración de políticas de grupo
para hacer copia de una
GPO](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-2.-Lanzamos-la-consola-de-administracion-de-politicas-de-grupo-para-hacer-copia-de-una-GPO.jpg)\\

Step 2. We launch the Group Policy Management console to back up a GPO

Once inside the "Group Policy Management" console, the tree must be expanded to reach the GPO settings, for this **expand "Forest > Domains > Domain > Group Policy Objects"** (13) where "Domain" must be replaced with the name of the domain being worked on.

Once the path is located, you must go to the central panel and **select the GPO you want to back up** (14) and by clicking on it, you **must select "Back up..."** (15).

![Paso 2. Seleccionamos la GPO que nos interesa y lanzamos el
backup](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-2.-Seleccionamos-la-GPO-que-nos-interesa-y-lanzamos-el-backup.jpg)\\

Step 2. We select the GPO that interests us and launch the backup

In the **pop-up window** you must **fill in the path where you want to save the backup**, and where you can **click on "Browse..."** (16) to browse and select the path.

You must **give a description to each backup task** (17) so that it can be better managed, and once everything is filled out you must **click on "Back Up"** (18) to launch the backup operation.

![Paso 2. Damos los datos del backup y lanzamos la
copia](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-2.-Damos-los-datos-del-backup-y-lanzamos-la-copia.jpg)\\

Step 2. We provide the backup data and launch the backup

At this point we will have a window in which the progress of the backup can be seen through the classic progress bar. Also, information about the progress can be seen in text mode. When the backup process ends, **a summary of the execution can be seen**.

![Paso 2. Esperamos mientras se hace la copia de
seguridad](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-2.-Esperamos-mientras-se-hace-la-copia-de-seguridad.jpg)\\

Step 2. We wait while the backup is made

Again, we can say that it is desirable to validate that the backup has been made by accessing the path where the backups are.

![Paso 2. Comprobamos que los ficheros de copia de seguridad se han
generado en la ruta del
backup](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-2.-Comprobamos-que-los-ficheros-de-copia-de-seguridad-se-han-generado-en-la-ruta-del-backup.jpg)\\

Step 2. We check that the backup files have been generated in the backup path

With this, we will have the operation done.

 

#### **Step 3. Restore a backup of the GPOs**

Now that we know how to make backups, we must learn how to reverse them, or rather, how to restore them.

To begin, you must access the console, which is the same one we have used throughout this article. To do this, we need to access it by pressing "Windows + R", or by typing "gpmc.msc" in the Run bar.

After this, the tree must be expanded to reach the GPO settings, for this **expand "Forest > Domains > Domain > Group Policy Objects"** (19) where "Domain" must be replaced with the name of the domain being worked on.

On the window, you should **right-click** **and select "Manage Backup"** (20).

![Paso 3. Lanzamos la gestión de los backups de
GPO](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-3.-Lanzamos-la-gestion-de-los-backups-de-GPO.jpg)\\

Step 3. We launch the management of GPO backups

In the **pop-up window called "Manage Backups"** you can **click on "browse..."** (21) to access the folder where the backups of the GPOs to be restored are stored.

You will have to **select the GPO** (22) to restore.

At this point, you can **check the option "Show only the latest version of each GPO"** (23) to see only the latest backup of each GPO.

At this point you can **carry out the following options**:

* **Restore** (24) will allow you to restore the policy.
* **Delete** (25) will delete the selected GPO.
* **View Settings** (26) shows the policy settings.
* **Close** (27) will close the recovery window

In our case, we should **click on "Restore"** (24).

![Paso 3. Comprobamos las opciones antes de dar a
restore](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-3.-Comprobamos-las-opciones-antes-de-dar-a-restore.jpg)\\

Step 3. We check the options before pressing restore

If recovery is selected, a pop-up window will be displayed in which you must **click on "Ok"** (28) to confirm the decision.

![Paso 3. Deberemos validar que queremos recuperar la GPO
seleccionada](https://jotelulu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paso-3.-Deberemos-validar-que-queremos-recuperar-la-GPO-seleccionada.jpg)\\

Step 3. We will have to validate that we want to restore the selected GPO

With this, the recovery will be launched.

 

### **Conclusions**

As can be seen in this tutorial, you can **back up GPOs** to\*\* ensure disaster survival, \*\*improve future deployments, etc.

To complete this information, we recommend that you visit the following operations that can be carried out based on group policies, such as:

* [What GPOs are and what they are used for](https://jotelulu.com/blog/que-son-y-para-que-sirven-las-gpo){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}
* [PowerShell commands to manage GPO Script](https://jotelulu.com/blog/comandos-de-powershell-para-gestionar-gpo-script){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}
* [How to configure a GPO for mapping shared drives](https://jotelulu.com/soporte/tutoriales/como-configurar-una-gpo-para-el-mapeo-de-unidades-compartidas){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}
* [How to deploy a GPO Script with PowerShell code](https://jotelulu.com/soporte/tutoriales/desplegar-gpo-script-codigo-powershell){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}
* [How to configure personal drives using GPO script](https://jotelulu.com/soporte/tutoriales/como-configurar-unidades-personales-mediante-gpo-script){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}
* [How to configure your firewall using GPO script](https://jotelulu.com/soporte/tutoriales/configurar-firewall-gpo-script){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}
* [How to hide access to a disk drive within your server through the local policy editor](https://jotelulu.com/soporte/tutoriales/como-ocultar-el-acceso-a-una-unidad-de-disco-dentro-de-tu-servidor-a-traves-del-editor-de-politicas-locales){target="\_blank" rel="noopener"}

And remember that if you have problems, you can contact us and we will give you a hand.

Thank you for joining us!


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