Group function

Question

How do I activate the Group function on my laptop? I am the "organization's administrator".

Answer 1

Hello Richard Prugh,

I'm happy to help, but "Group function" can mean a few different things on Windows so I want to make sure we point you at the right one before walking you through steps. Could you share a bit more?

• Where are you seeing it / where do you want to use it? For example: inside Microsoft Edge, inside File Explorer, inside Outlook or Teams, or in Windows Settings somewhere?
• What are you trying to do with it? A few common ones it could be:
  • Edge tab groups / workspaces — grouping browser tabs together.
  • Windows Local Users and Groups — managing user accounts and group membership on the PC itself.
  • Microsoft 365 / Entra ID groups — if you're an admin for your organization's tenant and want to create distribution or security groups.
  • Outlook or Teams groups — shared mailboxes, channels, etc.
• What kind of "organization admin" are you? Local admin on the laptop only, or admin in the Microsoft 365 / Entra admin center for your company?

Once I know which one you're after, I can give you better steps. The Active-Directory-API answer above is unlikely to be what you need unless you're writing code against a domain controller, so let's nail down the scenario first.

Answer 2

On Windows, “group” functionality is tied to user and group accounts, not something that is simply turned on in Edge or Windows 11 with a single switch. As the organization’s administrator, group management is typically done through account and group tools rather than a generic “Group function.”

Depending on what “Group function” is needed, these are the relevant built‑in mechanisms from the provided context:

1. Managing global groups (domain environment)
   In an Active Directory/domain scenario, global groups are managed programmatically or via directory tools. The Windows network management APIs provide functions such as:
   • NetGroupAdd – create a global group.
   • NetGroupAddUser – add a user to an existing global group.
   • NetGroupDel – delete a global group.
   • NetGroupDelUser – remove a user from a global group.
   • NetGroupEnum – list all global groups on a server.
   • NetGroupGetInfo / NetGroupGetUsers – get information and members of a group.
   • NetGroupSetInfo / NetGroupSetUsers – change group properties or replace group membership.
   These are used by administrators or management tools to control which users belong to which groups in a domain. A global group can contain only users from the domain where it is created and is available in that domain and any trusting domain.
2. Managing local groups (standalone or domain‑joined machines)
   On a standalone Windows 11 PC or a member computer in a domain, local groups control rights and permissions on that machine:
   • Local groups can contain user accounts or global group accounts from one or more domains.
   • Local group functions (called locally on the system) create/delete local groups and adjust their membership.
   • On a workstation or non‑domain controller server, only local groups defined on that system can be used.
   In an Active Directory domain in native mode, these are called domain local groups and are available on all domain controllers, member servers, and workstations joined to the domain.
3. Checking that the account is an administrator on the device
   To ensure the account has local admin rights (required to manage local groups and many organization‑level settings on the device):
   1. Select Start, type Control Panel, and open it.
   2. Go to User Accounts > Change your account type.
   3. Select Properties, then the Group Membership tab.
   4. Confirm that Administrator is selected. If not, an existing admin must grant admin rights.

If “Group function” refers to something else (for example, a specific app feature in Edge or another program), that would be controlled within that app’s own settings rather than through Windows group management.

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References:

• Group Functions
• Local Group Functions
• Check if you have local admin rights to install Office