Under previous versions of Windows, Group Policy ran in the context of the Winlogon process. In Vista and Windows Server 2008, Group Policy is its own operating system service, running under SVCHOST. OK, but that sounds a bit academic. Just what are the implications of Group Policy’s newfound status?
For one thing, Group Policy security is enhanced. The service requires administrative rights to stop (even if you’re logged in as a local admin, you’ll see an elevation prompt).
For another, like all services, you can configure how you would like Group Policy to behave in a failure scenario. For example, you can specify that the service should automatically restart.
Finally, shutdowns should be smoother. Windows’ Service Control Manager (SCM) provides certain services (including Group Policy) with a “pre-shutdown notification” so they can finish up whatever housekeeping chores they need to do before Windows shuts down. As long as such services remain responsive, the SCM will wait until they finish – even if it takes well over the old 20-second time limit.
See recent posts…
Key Changes in Group Policy Architecture in WS 2008
Getting started with managing Server Core
A step by step on how to add a role to Server Core
