Imagine how much more difficult it would be to implement a complex collection of group policy settings if you had to track down each policy setting through Registry Editor. First, they make an administrator's life easier by exposing related settings in some sort of logical way. GUI-based tools such as the Group Policy Editor exist for two purposes. When you use the Group Policy Editor to make a change to a policy for example, the Group Policy Editor is actually editing the registry behind the scenes on your behalf. In fact, many of the GUI based management utilities are really nothing more than registry front ends.
As I'm sure you know, the vast majority of Windows' configuration settings are stored in the Windows registry.
This is where the ADSI Edit tool comes into play.īefore I show you what the ADSI Edit tool looks like, and how to use it, I want to compare it to another tool that is built into Windows - the Registry Editor. Sometimes however, the same safety mechanisms that exist to protect us can also get in the way. These tools are designed to be safe, and to protect inexperienced administrators from making potentially catastrophic mistakes. Even so, the usual Active Directory tools can be inadequate in some situations. The point is that Active Directory is a mature technology, and most Windows Server admins probably know how to use the various Active Directory tools to perform tasks such as creating user accounts, sites, and OUs.
For example, the Active Directory Users and Computers tool that exists today in Windows Server 2016 really hasn't changed very much over the years. Many of the Active Directory-related tools that we have today can also trace their roots back to much earlier versions of Windows. Sure, the Active Directory has evolved a bit along the way, but it still adheres to the same basic structure that it did when it was first introduced so long ago. The Active Directory was first introduced with Windows 2000 Server, and will be turning 20 years old in a couple of years. I think that it's probably safe to say that most Windows admins are familiar with the Active Directory.