In previous versions of Windows, if you wanted to force a
refresh of Group Policy for a computer, you had to run the
Gpupdate.exe command locally on the computer targeted by the GPO.
This made it difficult for administrators to ensure that any new
Group Policy settings they configured were applied immediately to
the computers targeted by the GPO.
Beginning with Windows Server 2012, however, you can now
remotely force a refresh of Group Policy. This remote refresh
capability allows you to update Group Policy for all computers
within an OU with GPOs linked to it. To do this, follow these
steps:
-
Right-click on the desired OU in the GPMC, and select
Group Policy Update.
-
Read the confirmation prompt, and click Yes if you want
Group Policy to be refreshed for computers targeted by the GPOs
linked to the OU:
When the progress bar on the Remote Group Policy update
Results dialog box indicates Completed, Group Policy update will be
forced for all computers in the OU and also for computers in any OUs
beneath the OU.
Note
Remote refresh and Windows PowerShell
You can also use Windows PowerShell to perform a remote
refresh of Group Policy.
Note
Remote refresh for users and computers
When a remote refresh of Group Policy is performed, both
user and computer policies will be refreshed on the targeted
computers.
