Windows 7: Group Policy Not Applying in XP Mode

frodolives · 04 Aug 2009

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on my laptop and have installed Windows Virtual XP. I have joined the XP virtual machine to our domain successfully and am able to connect to server shares and our Exchange Server. However, Group Policy is not applying to the virtual machine, neither user nor computer policies. When I do "gpresult" I get the following message:

INFO: The policy object does not exist.

I have verified that the DNS server entries are correct on the VM. The VM's logon server is our domain controller. I have tried running "gpupdate /force" but that doesn't work.

I appreciate any advice or tips anyone might have.

Thanks!

Antman · 04 Aug 2009

Springboard Series - The Resource for Windows Desktop IT Professionals : Understanding XP Mode

Excerpt:
Jeremy Chapman: From the application compatibility perspective, the best thing to do is to get applications that run natively without any virtualization aids, recoding, compatibility fixes or compatibility modes needed. If you own the code and can recode the application, then do that. If you can’t recode a line-of-business application or are not dependent on support for a third party application, you can try compatibility fixes – or “shims” – to remediate the application. Finally, when all these options aren’t possible, then look into legacy operating system virtualization. If you have exhausted all other options for application remediation and intend on using Windows XP Mode, then I’d recommend following all the best practices in the Windows XP Security Compliance Management Toolkit to secure the virtual environment and manage configuration with Group Policy and desired configuration management in System Center Configuration Manager.

johngalt · 05 Aug 2009

The Windows XP Security Compliance Management Toolkit is this link: Windows XP Security Compliance Management Toolkit

Also, what does

Code:

gpupdate /force /boot

do? Does gpresult still not show anything?

Lee · 05 Aug 2009

johngalt,

Thanks for posting the Management Toolkit - Downloaded.

frodolives · 05 Aug 2009

Thanks johngalt for the reply.

I tried gpupdate /force and got the following:

Refreshing Policy...
User Policy Refresh has completed.
Computer Policy Refresh has completed.

When it was done, it didn't force a restart or logoff, so I went to the Actions menu of XP Mode and chose Restart. After logging back in, I still get the same message when doing gpresult:

INFO: The policy object does not exist.

We have other virtual PC's in our organization where Group Policy is working fine, though none running Windows 7 as the host machine.

Thanks.

johngalt · 05 Aug 2009

Hmmm - That is weird.

I don't have a machine to run as a DC right now so I cannot test this (and they won't let me play with GPOs at the Uni - go figure) so I am not sure where to go with this one next. Did you try using the /boot to see if it would auto run gpupdate on the reboot? perhaps if you can get it to update first thing on booting XP the policy may stick until the next boot, giving you a possible workaround to add that as a login script....

wzsmith · 05 Nov 2009

I'm having exactly the same problem on Windows 7 enterprize with MS Virtual PC. I'm positive it's not an AD problem as I set up an identical (except for the computer object) image using VMWare and have no problems.

jchapman · 19 Nov 2009

The reason the GPO isn't working is because you are using NAT (default in XP Mode) and the XP Mode object does not have a unique IP. In bridged mode, the GPOs should work fine.

-Jeremy

Windows 7: Group Policy Not Applying in XP Mode

Group Policy Not Applying in XP Mode problems?