Gpupdate Force Command



gpupdate command is used to update Group policies in Windows operating system Domain. There are different options to use with the gpupdate but one of the most used option is /force which will reapply all policy settings.

I would also try logging into the device as another user and run the gpupdate /force and see if you get the same issues. This will also allow you to see if it is a user issue, device issue or server issue. Please let me know how you go with this so I can provide more solutions for you to try. Gpupdate /force exit. I can go in and do the command and it works just fine. What Im really trying t supress is to not have to go to every individual machine login and do it. It takes more time.

Get Help

Even “gpupdate” command provides very basic features we may need to get some help about the options. We can list help information by using /? option like below. This will list options and option explanation of the “gpupdate” command.

Force Only

We can force to reapply all group policy settings with the /force option. The default behavior of the /force option is only update changed policies.

As we can see from screenshot User and Computer policies are updated successfully.

Update Only User Policies

  • Then I ran GPUpdate /force on the HR computers to get the setting.” A common alternate ending to that story is replacing the GPUpdate /force command with rebooting the computer. Neither rebooting the computer nor running GPUpdate /force are necessary. Group Policy Updates Itself.
  • How To Run gpupdate /force On Windows? Even “gpupdate” command provides very basic features we may need to get some help about the options. We can force to reapply all group policy settings with the /force option. The default behavior of the /force. Update Only User Policies.
  • To force update all policies, run the command: gpupdate /force The commands above will update both User Group Policies and Computer Group Policies simultaneously. Also, it is possible to force update Computer group policies or User Group policies individually.

By default all policies will be updated with the “gpupdate” command. If we want to update only the policies related with the user objects wen need to specify the /Target:User options to the “gpupdate” command like below.

Gpupdate force command failed

Update Only Computer Policies

Alternatively, we can only update computer object-related policies with the option /Target:Computer like below.

Force and Reboot

If we want to force and make the system restart or reboot we should provide the option /boot next to the option /force like below.

Force and Logoff Account

We can also log off from the current session or account after updating the group policy forcibly. We will provide the /logoff option after the option /force like below.

Set Timeout To Force gpupdate

Updating group policy may take some time or run forever if there is a problem. This problem can be a network or domain-related problem. Especially in remote branches network problems are very popular. We can set a time that will stop the update if it is not completed. We call this a timeout and use /w option and provide a time.

In this example, we will wait for 120 seconds in order to complete a group policy update.

Force gpupdate with PowerShell

What Is The Gpupdate Command

gpupdate command can be used in PowerShell too. We can use -force option like below with Invoke-GPUpdate command.

I teach several classes that cover Windows deployment, operations, and troubleshooting. Most of the content I teach is focused on enterprise environments – that is, generally, more than 5,000 systems. At that scale centralized IT management is a requirement, not an option. And the cornerstone of centralized computer configuration management in Windows are Active Directory and Group Policy.

Many of my students relate stories of making changes to Group Policy settings. Usually the story goes something like, “We needed to change the screensaver timeout period to kick in after 5 minutes for the HR department. So I edited the Group Policy and under User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Control Panel, Personalization, I set the ‘Screen saver timeout’ to 600 seconds. Then I ran GPUpdate /force on the HR computers to get the setting.” A common alternate ending to that story is replacing the GPUpdate /force command with rebooting the computer.

Neither rebooting the computer nor running GPUpdate /force are necessary.

Group Policy Updates Itself

Yup, the Group Policy service on all domain-joined client computers regularly checks with Active Directory to see if anything has changed. If new or changed policies exist, they are applied to the computer. By default, Group Policy updates every 60 to 120 minutes, as well as during system startup. This is a configurable setting, but in my experience most IT shops don’t need it to be any shorter or longer. Background refresh can also be disabled, but this is also rarely done in an organization that actively uses Group Policy for configuration management.

That means the changed screen saver timeout setting, like all other Group Policy changes, will apply to all target computers within 2 hours without any further action. If the setting isn’t mission-critical (and most aren’t) you should not do anything further with the client computers.

Forcing Group Policy to Update Immediately

When considering how to make the Group Policy changes to apply immediately you should consider these points:

What Is Gpupdate Force Command

  • Please don’t do this. You’re causing unnecessary overhead to client computers and domain controllers. Group Policy is designed to do it for you automagically.
  • If you must, just use GPUpdate. GPUpdate scans for new and changed settings and applies only those changes.
  • Don’t use GPUpdate /force. Adding the /force switch causes the Group Policy service to reprocess all policies, not just the changes. This is more taxing to the domain controllers and the client computers, and is only required when you believe there’s a problem with Group Policy applying correctly. No problem = no /force.
  • You don’t need to reboot the computer to have Group Policy apply unless you’ve made a change that can only be applied on startup.

To be clear, using GPUpdate /force is quite helpful as a troubleshooting tool when there’s a problem downloading or applying policy. But it’s the wrong tool for its most common use: immediately applying a setting change.

Gpupdate Force Command

You May Also Like

CategoryWindows Server 2012

Windows Gpupdate After Network Connections

Tags

Gpupdate Force Update

/Force, Active Directory, Administrative Templates, Control Panel, GPUpdate, Group Policy, Personalization, User Configuration