GPupdate on shutdown.

[boomam]

Hi.
I was wondering, are there any problems with having the machines on the network here running 'gpupdate /force' on shutdown.
Its mainly so when it starts up, i has all available policys.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

[Ryan]

Should be fine, it just forces GP changes to propagate to that machine. How many at once?

[enjay]

It could make the logoff irritatingly slow, so a task scheduled for a quiet moment might be better; other than that I don't see an issue.

[JamesC]

Can you not just change a group policy to set the interval at which the policies are refreshed for both users and the computers? I believe for computer policies the setting can be found here:

(off the top of my head)

Computer configuration -> administrative templates -> system -> group policy

the name of the setting is:

Group policy refresh interval...

the default is set to 90 mins with a 30 min random offset. Obviously for larger networks this may not be advisable as network traffic will increase.

The policy setting for users should be in a similar place within the user configuration.

[Ryan]

Ah, you want it to run on EVERY shutdown. Is this necessary?

[GlennT]

Have you tried this?
http://www.specopssoft.com/products/specopsgpupdate/

[srochford]

Hi.
I was wondering, are there any problems with having the machines on the network here running 'gpupdate /force' on shutdown.
Its mainly so when it starts up, i has all available policies.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Are you seeing problems with GPOs not applying? If so, fixing that would be better!

If you just want to make sure that new/updated GPOs are applied then you shouldn't need to do anything - as I understand it, the machine checks for changes at startup and user changes at logon (see this technet article - para headed group policy refresh interval. This means that if you make an update then the next time the machine restarts it will be applied; it will also check every (say) 90 minutes to see if it has to be applied (but certain policies won't take effect until startup/logon - eg folder redirection)

Check the event log on your machines - look in the application log for source SceCli, event 1202. If you have this then the text of the message will link to an MS page telling you what to try next but gpupdate won't work until you fix that problem.

[boomam]

It could make the logoff irritatingly slow, so a task scheduled for a quiet moment might be better; other than that I don't see an issue.

Ive looked around, and it seems that SpecOps GPUpdate will do what i need to do quite well, problem is, that everytime i blast out a gpupdate command, it gives me firewall/offline errors?

[GlennT]

Ive looked around, and it seems that SpecOps GPUpdate will do what i need to do quite well, problem is, that everytime i blast out a gpupdate command, it gives me firewall/offline errors?

I have had this before. I think that is caused by too many machines not actually being on[???] I think it tries x number of times then fails the entire job.

[boomam]

I have had this before. I think that is caused by too many machines not actually being on[???] I think it tries x number of times then fails the entire job.

I only tested it on one machine though?
Having said that though, 10mins later the network card in that machine dies and im still on the phone with Dell trying to get a replacement mobo.