Where is Active Directory GPO Stored on the Local Server

Question

Hi,

I applied a global policy on AD under system Net Login folder. I cannot find it on the local server by using gpedit.msc. Where is it located?

Thanks,
Brandon.

Answer 1

Hello

Thank you for your question and reaching out.

Some time you may not able to see exact GPO using gpedit.msc as they GPO versions are different on Client OS and Server OS.

In your case you can run below command to verify if the settings are applied or not on local computer

gpresult /h C:\temp\gpresult.htm

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Answer 2

Hi @Brandon Ho ,

The Windows Group Policy architecture is based on special Registry.pol files. These files store registry settings that correspond to the configured GPO settings. User and Computer policies are stored in different Registry.pol files.

%SystemRoot%\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine\registry.pol

%SystemRoot%\System32\GroupPolicy\User\registry.pol

Answer 3

Hi

See the following post on how to read the contents of the registry.pol file - https://nettools.net/how-to-read-the-contents-of-registry-pol-files/

Policy settings can also be saved in a number of other locations as well as the registry.pol file, have a look at this page which has details on how to view the details in the other location - https://nettools.net/gpo-explorer/ - GPO configuration Settings

Gary.