Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

Local Security Policy

Synopsis

A system policy used for securing the local computer.

Description

Local Security Policies are used to secure certain aspects of standalone Windows 2000 Server or Professional computers that are configured as part of a workgroup. A local security policy applies only to the machine on which it is configured. For Windows 2000 computers that are part of a domain, use Group Policy instead to implement security for Windows 2000 computers on your network. For procedures on implementing Local Security Policy on a machine, see Local Security Policy.

Although mainly intended for use in workgroup environments, Local Security Policies can have an effect on computers that are configured as part of a domain as well. This is because policy settings are applied in the following order:

1. Local Security Policy

2. Group Policy for the site

3. Group Policy for the domain

4. Group Policy for OUs

If, for example, the Local Security Policy on a computer specifies a minimum password length of 12 characters while none of the Group Policies that are implemented override this setting, the local setting will determine the result even though the computer belongs to a domain instead of a workgroup. For more information on the order of application of Group Policy, see Group Policy earlier in this chapter.

Security Settings

The security settings that can be configured using Local Security Policy are a small subset of those for Group Policy. In particular, Local Security Policy supports the following ...