Get-GPInheritance

Gets Group Policy inheritance information for a specified domain or OU.

Syntax

Get-GPInheritance
   [-Target] <String>
   [-Domain <String>]
   [-Server <String>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Get-GPInheritance cmdlet gets information about Group Policy inheritance for a specified domain or organizational unit (OU).

This information includes the following:

  • A list of GPOs that are linked directly to the location (the GpoLinks property).
  • A list of GPOs that are applied to the location when Group Policy is processed on a client (the InheritedGpoLinks property).
  • Whether inheritance is blocked for the location (the GpoInheritanceBlocked property).

The InheritedGpoLinks property contains a list of the GPOs are applied to the OU or domain when Group Policy is processed on a client. The GPOs are listed according to the order of precedence with which they are applied. This list includes (in the following order):

  • Inherited GPOs that are linked, enabled, and enforced at higher levels of the Group Policy hierarchy (for example, a site).
  • GPOs that are linked and enabled directly at the specified location.
  • If inheritance is not blocked for the specified location, inherited GPOs that are linked and enabled -- but not enforced -- at higher levels of the Group Policy hierarchy.

Examples

Example 1: Get Group Policy inheritance information for a specific OU

PS C:\> Get-GPInheritance -Target "ou=MyOU,dc=contoso,dc=com" 
ContainerName         : myou 

ContainerType         : OU 

Path                  : ou=myou,dc=contoso,dc=com 

GpoInheritanceBlocked : No 

GpoLinks              : {TestGPO-0, TestGPO-1, TestGPO-2, TestGPO-3...} 

InheritedGpoLinks     : {TestGPO-2, TestGPO-3, Default Domain Policy}

This command gets Group Policy inheritance information for the OU named MyOU in the contoso.com domain.

The GpoLinks property contains a list of all the GPOs that are linked directly to the GPO, whether their links are enabled or not.

The InheritedGpoLinks property contains a list of all the GPOs that are applied when Group Policy is processed on the client. TestGPO-2 and TestGPO-3 appear in this list because their links are enabled.

The Default Domain Policy GPO is inherited from the contoso.com domain. If inheritance is blocked, it does not appear in the InheritedGpoLinks property unless its link is enforced at the domain. If its link is enforced, it appears first in the list.

Example 2: Get Group Policy inheritance for a specific domain

PS C:\> Get-GPInheritance -Target "dc=contoso,dc=com" -Domain "contoso.com" -Server "DomainController1"
Name                  : contoso.com 

ContainerType         : Domain 

Path                  : dc=contoso,dc=com 

GpoInheritanceBlocked : No 

GpoLinks              : {Default Domain Policy} 

InheritedGpoLinks     : {Default Domain Policy}

This command gets Group Policy inheritance information for the contoso.com domain. The domain controller with the host name DomainController1 is contacted to complete the operation.

The domain does not have to be explicitly specified using the Domain parameter in this example. If the domain of the user that is running the session (or, for startup and shutdown scripts, the computer) is the same as the target domain, or a trust exists between it and the target domain, you do not have to specify the Domain parameter.

Example 3: Get GPOs that are linked to a specific organizational unit by evaluating the SOM object

PS C:\> (Get-GPInheritance -Target "ou=myou,dc=contoso,dc=com").GpoLinks | foreach-object { Get-GPO -Name ($_.DisplayName)} 

DisplayName      : TestGPO-3 

DomainName       : contoso.com 

Owner            : CONTOSO\Domain Admins 

Id               : d02126d4-82e8-4e87-b4a0-2d44b6891411 

GpoStatus        : AllSettingsEnabled 

Description      : 

CreationTime     : 2/27/2009 2:59:51 PM 

ModificationTime : 2/27/2009 4:00:44 PM 

UserVersion      : AD Version: 13, SysVol Version: 13 

ComputerVersion  : AD Version: 0, SysVol Version: 0 

WmiFilter        : 



DisplayName      : TestGPO-2 

DomainName       : contoso.com 

Owner            : CONTOSO\Domain Admins 

Id               : 375865b2-3b5f-480f-8f56-2a994ea6e725 

GpoStatus        : AllSettingsEnabled 

Description      : 

CreationTime     : 2/26/2009 11:28:08 PM 

ModificationTime : 3/1/2009 11:07:30 AM 

UserVersion      : AD Version: 0, SysVol Version: 0 

ComputerVersion  : AD Version: 1, SysVol Version: 1 

WmiFilter        :

This command evaluates the SOM object (Microsoft.GroupPolicy.SOM) returned by Get-GPInheritance and returns the GPOs that are linked to the MyOU organizational unit. You can use this command to set properties of the GPOs by piping its output into other cmdlets. For instance, you can pipe the output to the Set-GPPermissions cmdlet to delegate permissions to administrators of the OU for each of the GPOs linked to the OU.

The GpoLinks property of the SOM object contains a list of all the GPO links for the OU. Each object in this list is of type Microsoft.GroupPolicy.GpoLink. The following shows one such object:

GpoId : d02126d4-82e8-4e87-b4a0-2d44b6891411

DisplayName : TestGPO-3

Enabled : True

Enforced : False

Target : ou=myou,dc=contoso,dc=com

Order : 1

The collection is piped into a foreach-object command, which retrieves each GPO by using the DisplayName property of the GpoLink object.

Parameters

-Domain

Specifies the domain for this cmdlet. You must specify the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the domain.

For the Get-GPInheritance cmdlet, this is typically the domain of the container (domain or OU) for which you want to retrieve inheritance information. If the specified domain is different than the domain of the container, a trust must exist between the two domains.

If you do not specify the Domain parameter, the domain of the user that is running the current session is used. If the cmdlet is being run from a computer startup or shutdown script, the domain of the computer is used. For more information, see the Notes section in the full Help.

If you specify a domain that is different from the domain of the user that is running the current session (or, for a startup or shutdown script, the computer), a trust must exist between that domain and the domain of the user or the computer.

You can also refer to the Domain parameter by its built-in alias, domainname. For more information, see about_Aliases.

Type:String
Aliases:DomainName
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Server

Specifies the name of the domain controller that this cmdlet contacts to complete the operation. You can specify either the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or the host name.

If you do not specify the name by using the Server parameter, the primary domain controller (PDC) emulator is contacted.

You can also refer to the Server parameter by its built-in alias, dc.

Type:String
Aliases:DC
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Target

Specifies the domain or the OU for which to retrieve the Group Policy inheritance information by its Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) distinguished name. For instance, the MyOU organizational unit in the contoso.com domain is specified as ou=MyOU,dc=contoso,dc=com.

You can also refer to the Target parameter by its built-in alias, path.

Type:String
Aliases:path
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

Microsoft.GroupPolicy.Som

An object that represents a domain or an OU.

Outputs

Microsoft.GroupPolicy.Som

This cmdlet returns an object that represents the domain or OU. The GpoInheritanceBlocked property indicates whether inheritance is blocked. You can modify inheritance for the domain or OU by using the Set-GPInheritance cmdlet.

Notes

  • You can use the Domain parameter to explicitly specify the domain for this cmdlet.

    If you do not explicitly specify the domain, the cmdlet uses a default domain. The default domain is the domain that is used to access network resources by the security context under which the current session is running. This domain is typically the domain of the user that is running the session. For example, the domain of the user who started the session by opening Windows PowerShell from the Program Files menu, or the domain of a user that is specified in a runas command. However, computer startup and shutdown scripts run under the context of the LocalSystem account. The LocalSystem account is a built-in local account, and it accesses network resources under the context of the computer account. Therefore, when this cmdlet is run from a startup or shutdown script, the default domain is the domain to which the computer is joined.