Customize the GPMC User Interface

You can customize the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) user interface (UI) by performing the procedures in this topic.

To set user interface options

1. Open the GPMC.

2. On the View menu, click Options.

3. Click one or more of the following tabs to customize the GPMC UI:

   On the Columns tab:

   1. Select a table from the Table location list.
      
      
   2. In Columns displayed in this order, add a check next to each column that should be displayed.
      
      
   3. Select a column and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to set the order of columns.
      
      
   4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each table in the Table location list that you want to change, and then click OK.
      
      
   5. On by default, Save customized column order and sizes makes column order and size selections persistent. Clear this check box if you do not want the selections to persist.
      
      

   On the Reporting tab, select one of the following options:

   • To specify that GPMC should use the local .adm files, select Default. If an .adm file is not found locally, GPMC will search the Group Policy objects (GPO) folder in the sysvol folder.
     
     
   • To specify a custom location that takes precedence over the default locations, select Custom, and then enter the location where the .adm files are stored.
     
     

     	Important
     	This procedure applies only to .adm files and not the ADMX files in Windows® 7 or Windows Vista®. The ADMX file location is not configurable. The GPMC automatically reads ADMX files from either the local store or the domain-based central store.

   On the General tab, select one of the following options:

   • To display only forests or domains that have two-way trusts to the user's domain, select Enable trust checking. This setting is selected by default.
     
     
   • To show domain name controller names in parentheses after each domain in the GPMC, select Show domain controllers after domain names.
     
     
   • To display a confirmation dialog box to distinguish between GPOs and GPO links every time a GPO or GPO link is selected in the GPMC, select Show confirmation dialog box to distinguish between GPOs and GPO links. This setting is selected by default.