Mastering Windows Group Policy

Enforcing GPOs

On the heels of a discussion about inherency blocking, why don't we spin things around and discuss an option that overrides that blocking. Boy, this almost sounds like we are working in an environment where the administrators are fighting for control.

While blocked inheritance is associated with an OU-level mentality, blocking the ability for GPOs to filter down into or beyond particular OUs, the option for enforcing GPOs is flagged to the GPO link itself. It is a fairly simple setting; if you have a GPO that you want to enforce to be processed, even blowing through the borders of inherency blocking, this is the ticket.

To enforce a GPO link, all you need to do is right-click on the link and choose Enforced, as seen in the ...