Troubleshooting Group Policy Client-Side Extension Behavior

When a group policy is being processed on a Windows-based computer, client-side extensions are the components that interpret the stored policy and make the appropriate changes to the environment. In troubleshooting a given extensions' application of policy, the administrator can view the configuration parameters for that extension. These parameters are in the form of registry values.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Each client-side extension is identified by a subkey beneath the following path: The subkey name takes the form of a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). For more information about identifying registered group policy client-side extensions, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Registry Values for Client-Side Extensions

The following registry values may be present for each client-side extension. Note that some of these values may not be present. In this case, the default specified is used by the client extension.

Value: DllName
Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ
Data: <Client-side extension DLL>

Value: ProcessGroupPolicy
Type: REG_SZ
Data: The function within the client-side extension to be called when group policy processing is passed to this extension.

Value: NoMachinePolicy
Purpose: Determines whether or not the client extension will process a group policy when a machine policy is being applied.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Process
• 0x1 = Do not process

Default: 0 (zero)

Value: NoUserPolicy
Purpose: Determines whether or not the client extension will process a group policy when a user policy is being applied.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Process
• 0x1 = Do not process

Default: 0x0 = This extension will process a user group policy normally.

Value: NoSlowLink
Purpose: Determines whether or not the client extension will process a group policy when a slow link is detected.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Process
• 0x1 = Do not process

Default: 0 (zero)

Value: NoBackgroundPolicy
Purpose: Determines whether or not the client extension will process a group policy when a background refresh of the group policy occurs.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Process
• 0x1 = Do not process

Default: 0 (zero)

Value: NoGPOListChanges
Purpose: Determines whether or not the client extension will process a group policy when there are no changes between the cached list of GPOs previously processed and the current list.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Process
• 0x1 = Do not process

Default: 0 (zero)

Value: PerUserLocalSettings
Purpose: If enabled, user policies are cached on a per-user and per-machine basis.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Disabled
• 0x1 = Enabled

Default: 0 (zero)

Value: RequiresSuccessfulRegistry
Purpose: If enabled, requires the successful registration of client-side extension components to occur before it processes a group policy.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Disabled
• 0x1 = Enabled

Default = 0 (zero)

Value: EnableAsynchronousProcessing
Purpose: Determines whether or not a group policy will continue processing while the client extension is performing operations.
Type: REG_DWORD
Data:

• 0 (zero) or value not present = Synchronous
• 0x1 = Asynchronous

Default = 0 (zero)