Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Troubleshooting Group Policy Applications

When policies are used throughout an organization, sometimes the policy settings do not apply to a user or computer as originally intended. To begin basic troubleshooting of Group Policy application issues, you need to understand the policy application hierarchy. First, any local server or workstation policies are applied to the user or computer, followed by site group policies, domain group policies, and, finally, the organizational unit group policies. If nested OUs have group policies, the parent OU policies are processed first, followed by the child OUs, and, finally, the OU containing the Active Directory object (user or computer). You might find it easier to remember LSD-OU—the acronym for local, ...