Add a forest, site, or domain to the Group Policy Management Console

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Open Group Policy Management.
Depending upon whether you want to add a forest, site, or domain, use one of the following procedures:
- Forest
- Domain
- Site

In the console tree, right-click Group Policy Management, and then click Add Forest.
In the Add Forest dialog box, type the DNS or NetBIOS name of any domain in the forest, and then click OK.

You can specify either the DNS name or the NetBIOS name of any domain in the forest. If you specify a NetBIOS name, you must confirm that the NetBIOS name corresponds to the DNS name of the domain.

The forest is added to Group Policy Management Console, along with the domain that you specified.

In the console tree, double-click the forest in which you want to add a domain, right-click Domains, and then click Show Domains.
In the Show Domains dialog box, select the check box next to each domain to add in Group Policy Management Console and then click OK.

In the console tree, double-click the forest in which you want to add a site, right-click Sites, and then click Show Sites.
In the Show Sites dialog box, select the check box next to each site to add to Group Policy Management Console and then click OK.

Notes

Adding a forest to Group Policy Management does not create a new forest in Active Directory. This function simply allows you to view and manage an existing forest using Group Policy Management Console. Likewise, adding a domain or site to Group Policy Management does not actually create a new domain or site in Active Directory.
When you add a forest, the forest displayed in Group Policy Management is named after the forest root domain for that forest. By default, Group Policy Management shows a single domain in the forest, which is the domain that you specified in the Add forest dialog box. To show other domains, you must add them.
By default, sites do not appear in the console. Sites are shown only if you explicitly add them.
Because Group Policy is not inherited across domains, domains are always shown as peers of one another, regardless of their actual relationship.
You can use the Add Forest function to add externally trusted domains, even if you do not have forest trust with the entire forest. You must, however, have trust between the domain you want to add and the domain of your user object. In the Add Forest dialog box, enter the name of the externally trusted domain that you want to add.
When you close Group Policy Management Console, it preserves the current list of forests, domains, and sites shown.

Information about functional differences

Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.