Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Group Policy Processing: How Does It Work?

The first thing an administrator needs to understand about Group Policy is that policies are processed and applied by computers and users. Policy processing occurs during certain events like computer startup and user logon but also at periodic intervals. When policy processing occurs, many factors are taken into account to determine whether a policy will be applied. One determining factor is whether the policy has been previously applied and, if so, whether it has been changed since the last application. This and many other factors are used to check each possible policy before it is applied to the computer/user.