Any administrator knows the importance of backups. Backing up GPOs is a good practice to get into before making any changes and Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) makes it easier than ever!

To backup the GPO from within GPMC, drill down to the Group Policy Objects node and expand it. You will see a list of all the GPOs you have created, whether they are linked or not.

Right-click the GPO you wish to backup and select Back Up.

Set the location where the backup should be placed and a description.

The backup will be made and once complete you will be given a success or failure message.

You should backup and store these GPO settings in a secure location to prevent any malicous editing of the files. If you browse to the directory where the backups were placed, you will see a number of folders with a GUID. Inside these folders are a number of XML files that can be edited. Restoring GPOs is just as easy. Right-click the GPO you wish to resotre from backup and select Restore from backup.

A wizard will start and after you click Next on the welcome page you are prompted for the path to the directory with the backups.

You will then be shown a list of backups available. Choose the appropriate backup and click Next to proceed.

Verifiy the restore and click Finish to have the restore performed.

That's all there is. Needless to say this is more than useful when editing GPOs as you can quickly recover from any mistakes you make!