Microsoft KB Archive/150687

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Group Policies Not Applied on Windows NT Domain

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Q150687

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows 95
 * Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release, versions 1, 2, 2.1

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SYMPTOMS
When group policies are used on Windows 95 workstations in a Microsoft Windows NT domain, the policies associated with the user's group member- ship may not be applied at logon. Instead, the policies associated with the Default user may be applied.

CAUSE
The primary domain controller (PDC) for the domain is not available at logon. Users are validated by a backup domain controller (BDC) instead.

RESOLUTION
To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods:


 * Remove the Default user from the Config.pol file.

This causes the settings for the last user who logged on to that workstation to be retained. This may be an acceptable solution if the same user generally logs on to the same workstation.
 * Define the settings for the Default user to be an acceptable default if the specific group policies cannot be applied. Define different policies for individual users for whom these defaults would not be appropriate.

This method may be effective if most users can operate with a certain base configuration and only a few require a different configuration.
 * Configure system policies to be updated by manual download from a predefined location instead of automatically.

When you are configured for automatic download and load balancing is not enabled, system policies are downloaded from the PDC only. When you are configured for automatic download and load balancing is enabled, system policies are downloaded from the PDC or BDC that validates the user's logon. When you are configured for manual down- load, system policies are downloaded from a specific, pre-defined path.
 * Enable user profiles, set the users' Home directories on a Windows NT BDC instead of the PDC, and remove the Default user from the Config.pol file.

When user profiles are enabled in a Windows NT domain, a user's profile is saved to and loaded from the user's home directory (as defined in Windows NT User Manager for Domains) by default. This allows for "roving" user profiles.

When a user logs on, the appropriate user profile is downloaded and applied to the local computer. Then, group policies are applied. Because there is no Default user defined, if the PDC is unavailable the settings in the previously saved user profile are used instead.

This method is useful if the BDC is on a local LAN segment and the PDC is on a remote link that is less reliable, so that the BDC is more likely to be available than the PDC. This also allows proper user configurations to be applied regardless of the local computer on which a user logs on.

This issue is resolved by the following updated file for Windows 95 and OSR2, and later versions of this file:

  GROUPPOL.DLL  (no version info)  dated 1/27/97  11,776 bytes

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows 95 and OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2). An update to address this problem is now available, but is not fully regression tested and should be applied only to computers experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft does not recommend implementing this update at this time. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for additional information about the availability of this update.

This issue is resolved in Microsoft Windows 98.

MORE INFORMATION
When group policies are in use, Windows 95 attempts to contact only the PDC to determine the user's group membership. Windows 95 does not attempt to query the BDC for this information, even though the user's logon may have been validated by the BDC. This occurs even if load balancing is enabled.

For additional information about issues resolved by updates to this component, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

"Q149415 Group Policies Are Not Recognized with MSNDS"

For additional information about Windows 95 updates, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

"Q161020 Implementing Windows 95 Updates"