Adding a Registry Key export for Windows 10 stations

[talksr]

Hi there,

 

I have a registry key from a test computer which contains software activation config info. I would like to deploy this to all stations in a particular Group Policy OU.

 

The registry export I have taken is a registry folder. from within HKLM>Software

How best can I do this?

All of the stations are Windows 10 and the server is Server 2012. Never done it before, and looking for the best method.

 

Thanks in advance

[clareq]

Computer Configuration - Preferences - Windows Settings - Registry. New Registry Item, and fill in from there. If the export exists on the machine you're running Group Policy Editor on, you can simply browse to it.

[talksr]

Computer Configuration - Preferences - Windows Settings - Registry. New Registry Item, and fill in from there. If the export exists on the machine you're running Group Policy Editor on, you can simply browse to it.

 

Thank you. This is the way I used to do things, but as this is a folder, I am not sure that this will work. This method would usually be done just for one value.

The problem I have is that there are 13 REG_SZ entries within the folder in question.

 

Things like...Address, Post Code, Licence Key, Terms Accepted, email, serial number, organisation.

[clareq]

Would Registry Wizard work for you - you need to be able to browse to the folder, on your machine or another machine, but you should then be able to tick all the entries and they are all imported

[talksr]

Would Registry Wizard work for you - you need to be able to browse to the folder, on your machine or another machine, but you should then be able to tick all the entries and they are all imported

 

Good suggestion, have been trying this for the past hour but the server is refusing to connect to the client machine.

I can remotely connect Computer Management no issue, all firewall settings are disabled, but Registry Editor or Registry Wizard on Group Policy are just coming back saying unable to connect / The network path was not found.

 

Can't work it out.

[clareq]

Is the remote registry service running on the client? Failing that, could you enable Group Policy editor on the client machine temporarily?

[talksr]

Is the remote registry service running on the client? Failing that, could you enable Group Policy editor on the client machine temporarily?

 

That was exactly it. Thanks very much for suggesting.

 

I have executed the wizard and got the settings on. Uninstalled the software so the GPO can re-install it again.

Rebooted and gupdated several times, and software not coming through.

 

So there is another issue. This site seems to have issue after issue.

 

The GPO in question has all of the relevant groups in Security Filtering and has link enabled. I had issues with this before.

 

I have done a GPResult and half of the policies that should be getting applied are not even showing. Not sure what could be causing the issue this time.

[clareq]

Any WMI filters stopping policies being applied?

[talksr]

Any WMI filters stopping policies being applied?

 

None. I have re-checked every policy in the OU and none have any WMI filtering.

[clareq]

Looks like it's time to stick that machine into an OU of it's own, disable inheritance and try one GPO at a time. There must be something blocking things.

[talksr]

Looks like it's time to stick that machine into an OU of it's own, disable inheritance and try one GPO at a time. There must be something blocking things.

 

Good idea, I am on the case.

Will let you know the outcome.

[talksr]

Managed to get back on to it, so update must have been taking a long while.

 

I have put it in a new OU, blocked inheritance and just added the GPO with the software installer and reg changes. Same thing again, it is not installing on. There are no other policies linked to this OU now.

When I do GPUpdate /Force, I am still getting the usual message about being unable to apply some policies...

 

 

C:\Users\administrator>gpupdate /force
Updating policy...

Computer Policy update has completed successfully.

The following warnings were encountered during computer policy processing:

The Group Policy Client Side Extension Software Installation was unable to apply one or more settings because the changes must be processed before system startup or user logon. The system will wait for Group Policy processing to finish completely before the next startup or logon for this user, and this may result in slow startup and boot performance.
User Policy update has completed successfully.

For more detailed information, review the event log or run GPRESULT /H GPReport.html from the command line to access information about Group Policy results.

Certain Computer policies are enabled that can only run during startup.

OK to restart? (Y/N)

[mrwoberts]

Another option, although not the best way, but it should work..

 

Use this tool RegConvert to convert your .REG file into a .BAT or .VBS to which you can then run at startup...

Alternatively, this command will import the registry file

reg import RegExportFile.REG

- run it from a batch script...

[Rob_D]

When I do GPUpdate /Force, I am still getting the usual message about being unable to apply some policies...

I'd expect an error of the type here as software install polices can only be run at startup.

 

Assuming the policy isn't applying even after reboot, are there any security permissions on the GPO?

What happens when you run run group policy modeling or group policy result from the management console? They can give more information than just using gpresult in the command line.

[talksr]

I'd expect an error of the type here as software install polices can only be run at startup.

 

Assuming the policy isn't applying even after reboot, are there any security permissions on the GPO?

What happens when you run run group policy modeling or group policy result from the management console? They can give more information than just using gpresult in the command line.

 

Morning. There certainly seems to be something up with Group Policy.

I am getting the following error when using Group Policy Modeling.. "An error occurred while generating the report. The given key was not present in the dictionary".

 

When I use Group Policy Results from Group Policy, if I look at the computer in question (which is in its own testing OU) with inheritance blocked, it seems to be processing a large amount of policies, but it would seem this is because I have some enforced at the top of the Group Policy tree.

 

This is the only policy I have linked to the OU:

This is the result of Group Policy Results:

[talksr]

I have un-enforced all of the policies in the main group policy tree and re-run a gpresult off of my local machine. I am getting this which is interesting...

 

Still not making sense of what the actual issue is. On the same station, I can manually browse to the installer file and install it with absolutely no issues. So the source file for this policy is absolutely fine and for the right processor architecture.

[Rob_D]

What does the Event log say about it?

 

Could it be a permissions thing on the installer? Do the computer accounts have access rights to the share with the MSI in?

Does running "msiexec /i "\\server\share\installer.msi" /qn" work?

[clareq]

On the plus side, the registry import worked!

[talksr]

What does the Event log say about it?

 

Could it be a permissions thing on the installer? Do the computer accounts have access rights to the share with the MSI in?

Does running "msiexec /i "\\server\share\installer.msi" /qn" work?

 

Share permissions all seem good,

 

Running the command you mention above works a treat and installs the Lynx software within seconds.

[clareq]

Anything in the Event log? It's usually quite helpful when it comes to installation failures.

[talksr]

Anything in the Event log? It's usually quite helpful when it comes to installation failures.

 

For that time period, no, not really.

I am seeing failed MsiInstaller errors but not for the software in question:

Product Adobe Flash Player 28 NPAPI -- Error: The version of the layer that you are trying to install is lower than what is currently installed.

Product Adobe Flash Player 28 NPAPI -- Removal Failed

Windows Installer removed the product. Product Name: Adobe Flash Player 28 NPAPI. Product version 28.0.0.126. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Adobe Systems Incorporated. Removal success of error status:1603.