Active Directory, 3rd Edition

Using the GUI to Examine Permissions

To access the permissions for any object, select the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC and right-click on it. Choose Properties from the drop-down menu and select the Security tab of the properties window that is displayed.

Tip

To make the Security tab visible, you need to right-click in the display pane of the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC, choosing View Advanced Features from the pop-up menu. If you reopen the properties window of the object to which you wish to assign permissions, you should see a Security tab.

The window in Figure 11-2 is your first point of contact for permissions. The top area contains a complete list of all groups and users who have permissions to the object whose properties we are looking at. The Permissions section below this list displays which general permissions are allowed and denied for the highlighted user or group. The general permissions listed are only those deemed to be the most likely to be set on a regular basis. Each general permission is only an umbrella term representing a complex set of actual implemented permissions hidden underneath the item. Consequently, the general permission called Read translates to specific permissions like Read All Properties and List Contents, as we will show later. Below the Permissions section are three important parts of this window:

Advanced button

The Advanced button allows you to delve further into the object, so that permissions can be set using ...