Microsoft Security Compliance Manager

Compare baselines

Use the Compare / Merge feature to view the differences between two baselines.

Note   The Compare / Merge feature sorts all customized setting options that are configured, and by default retains them unless the user chooses not to retain them.

To compare baselines

1. In the Baselines Library pane, click the first baseline to select it, and then in the Action pane, in the Baseline area, click Compare / Merge to make the Compare Baselines dialog box appear.
2. In the Compare Baselines dialog box, browse to the baseline that you want to compare with the first baseline that you selected, click the second baseline to select it, and then click OK.

   

   The Compare Baselines Summary report displays the comparison results of Baseline A, the first baseline that you selected, with Baseline B, the second baseline that you selected.

   The summary report includes the following baseline comparison information:

   • The total number of unique settings compared between the baselines.
   • The total number of common settings between the baselines.
   • The total number of settings not in common between the baselines if there are any.

     Note   Settings not in common between the baselines you are comparing will display in either the Settings only in Baseline A or the Settings only in Baseline B sections of the report.

   • The configuration of each setting in each of the baselines that you are comparing.

   

3. On the Compare Baselines Summary report, save the results of your baseline comparison by clicking the Export to Excel button, type a name for your baseline comparison, and then click Save.

   Note   By default, macros in the Excel workbook that you produced to save the results of the baseline comparison are turn off.

4. On the Security Warning notice under the main menu of the workbook, click Enable Content to complete saving the workbook results to a location on your computer.

In the workbook:

• The Differ tab displays settings in common between the baselines with difference configuration values.
• The Match tab displays settings in common between the baselines with the same configuration values.
• The OnlyInA and OnlyInB tabs display unique setting names between the baselines if there are any.