Applied GPO Actions Forced On Clients When Changes Made?

Not sure how else to name the subject...

We are currently troubleshooting our GPOs but are afraid to now after forced
reboots.

We had just begun the task of cleaning up some old GPOs that applied the IE6
IEAK (Now that we are on IE8) to domain clients/workstations and this change
forced the workstations to reboot 3 times.

We want to begin GPO maintenance but are afraid now that if we make any
changes to the GPOs that it will force users to reboot their computers and
lose work.

Is this forced reboot (and 3 times) what can be expected when modifying GPO?

I'd love to remove them all and start fresh but don't know what to expect.

How do others manage this process? Is there a 'best practice'? I see all
sorts of technical write ups on how and where to make changes and create
GPOs, etc. But I haven't read anywhere as to how this affects the
client/workstations and what type of activity or forced actions we can expect
to see.

If I make many changes and modifications to the GPOs after hours can I
expect only one reboot when the users login? What is the most accurate way
to test changes to see the outcome before I apply to the entire domain?

Thanks in advance.

Hello absolutezero273c,

First, test, test and test it again with lab machines/users built the same
like the production one.

If you install software with GPO see the options for installing the package
and what happens if the machine falls out of the scope or you remove the
GPO or GPO setting. That way you can control the reboots.

If still reboots required find a time to make the changes, i always prefer
COB, so the next day the users startup the machine changes are done and if
reboots needed they can't loose data, which basically doesn't occur during
work.

Software installation/removal occurs during startup(computer configuration)
or logon (user configuration).

The default GPO refresh is between 90-120 minutes, so if you don't force
it with gpupdate /force or reboot the new changes can take time to apply.
Some changes still need a reboot.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> Not sure how else to name the subject...
>
> We are currently troubleshooting our GPOs but are afraid to now after
> forced reboots.
>
> We had just begun the task of cleaning up some old GPOs that applied
> the IE6 IEAK (Now that we are on IE8) to domain clients/workstations
> and this change forced the workstations to reboot 3 times.
>
> We want to begin GPO maintenance but are afraid now that if we make
> any changes to the GPOs that it will force users to reboot their
> computers and lose work.
>
> Is this forced reboot (and 3 times) what can be expected when
> modifying GPO?
>
> I'd love to remove them all and start fresh but don't know what to
> expect.
>
> How do others manage this process? Is there a 'best practice'? I see
> all sorts of technical write ups on how and where to make changes and
> create GPOs, etc. But I haven't read anywhere as to how this affects
> the client/workstations and what type of activity or forced actions we
> can expect to see.
>
> If I make many changes and modifications to the GPOs after hours can I
> expect only one reboot when the users login? What is the most
> accurate way to test changes to see the outcome before I apply to the
> entire domain?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

Meinolf,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I am setting up a test environment
to test my GPO environment.
But I do have to day I mispoke. These are not simply reboots but I found
that it is bluescreening with a winlogon.exe error.
And it only seems to happen on computers that we have installed IE8.
Anything that we have IE7 does not have an issue.

Hello absolutezero273c,

I am not an IE expert or in the use of IEAK. So as you found that it seems
to belong to IEAK6 together with the new IE8 maybe you should check the IE
specialized forums/newsgroups.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> Meinolf,
> Thanks for taking the time to respond. I am setting up a test
> environment
> to test my GPO environment.
> But I do have to day I mispoke. These are not simply reboots but I
> found
> that it is bluescreening with a winlogon.exe error.
> And it only seems to happen on computers that we have installed IE8.
> Anything that we have IE7 does not have an issue