How can I tell if an active directory group is a security or distribution group?

Question

I need to check if an active directory group is a security or distribution group. As somebody who doesn't know much about active directory - how do I go about doing this?

Answer 1

Click Start, then Administrative Tools, then select Active Directory Users and Computers.

Click Continue when the User Account Control dialog box appears.

If you know where the group is in AD, find and select it. Otherwise, select the root of the domain and select Find and enter the (partial) name of the group and click Find Now.

Right click the group and select Properties.

In the properties dialog, you will see a Group type box and either Security or Distribution will be selected.

Answer 2

If you look in the Active Directory Groups and Computers and find the group by browsing to the Organizational Unit that it belongs to, you can view the group type column on the right hand side of the window.

If you are searching for the group, you can look at the group properties and there should be a radio button section on the right hand side titled "Group Type" that will have either Distribution or Security selected.