System and method for managing group policy backup

A system, comprising:

• a computer comprising a group policy backup component, that automatically backs up each modified policy in at least one domain, wherein the group policy backup component:
• retrieves a list of group policy objects for a domain;
• generates a configuration initialization file including a domains section identifying a plurality of domains that are to be backed up and a setup section specifying a plurality of values that control the backup of each policy object in the at least one domain;
• determines a digital signature for each policy object on the list of policies for the domain;
• and
• compares the digital signature for each policy object with a corresponding previous digital signature for each policy.

A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embedded therein, the computer readable medium comprising:

• program instructions that retrieve a list of group policy objects for a domain;
• program instructions that generate a configuration initialization file including a domains section identifying a plurality of domains that are to be backed up and a setup section specifying a plurality of values that control the backup of each policy object in each domain;
• program instructions that determine a digital signature for each policy object on a list of policies for the domain;
• and
• program instructions that compare the digital signature for each policy object with a corresponding previous digital signature for each policy.