Question

File System Group Policy not applying

Asked by: dws_sysops

We have a series of computers accessed by the public in mulitple locations.  To decrease bandwidth, we would like the users to save files to My Document without having any other access to the system drive.  

They are unable to save files at the root of C unless they create a folder.  Users can't create folders under Documents and Settings.  Applications default to the My Documents folder.  A, B, C, and D drives are hidden (policy enabled).  Access to C: is allowed as preventing access will not allow My Documents to display in the Save As field.  I have applied the following files to the File System policy in AD Group Policy

http://tekjournal.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/xp-hard-drive-lockdown

The only difference I have made to what this article suggests is removing the creator/owner to prevent users creating files at the root of C:  .

The file system policy will not apply.  It is set with the other restriction policies in the same GPO.  The GPO is in a separate OU.  No other policies are applying to that user or computer.  Additionally, running Group Policy Results shows all policies are enabled for that GPO except for the file system policy.  There are no errors being reported.  It's just not applying.

What I want is to prevent users from saving anywhere except for My Documents.  What am I missing?  Computers are running XP SP3.  Server is W2k3 SP2.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-11-05 at 06:25:43ID24874481
Tags

Group Policy

Topics

Active Directory

,

Windows 2003 Server

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. GPO not applying to users
    hi everyone. hope you can help me with this one. here's the situation: I've set-up a windows 2000 SP4 DC and windows XP Pro SP1 Client computer. then i was able to install active directory and DNS on the DC. 1. I created 3Ed1 Global Security Group. 2. I created 3Ed1 OU. 3...
  2. applying GPO
    If I put a group of users under OU and apply GPO to that OU, do users inside the group get affected by that GPO? thanks
  3. GPO to OU not being applied
    I have searched through a number of posts but can't find my solution. Here it is, I am trying to apply a screen saver GPO. We have so far not used GPO since we are smaller company so I may be missing something easy but can't find it; Enviornement: We have 2 domain control...
  4. Finding OU structure and GPO's
    I am trying to map out the AR OU structure and GPO’s, I found a great tool called ADMAP it is a plug in for Visio the tool can map out the OU structure. I am trying to find a way to not only get the AD structure but what GPO’s are applied to each OU? Also is there a good tool...
  5. Applying Policies in OU's
    In Active Directory 2003 I am having a problem applying User Configuration Policies... let me explain the scenario. In OU1 I have a Policy with both User and Comptuer Configurations. All Computers that are needed to connect are in that OU In OU2 I have a User1 that will nee...
  6. GPO not applied to OU's that containt Security Groups
    SBS2003 Server SP1. All of my users are in the default OU Users --SBS Users I have created OU's within the SBS Users OU Inside those OU's are individual Global Security Groups. I have users from withiin the default OU (SBS Users) that belong to individual Global Securit...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-11-05 at 06:31:10ID: 25749788

Are you applying the policy to computer objects?

If so have you run gpupdate /force and then restarted?

 

by: dws_sysopsPosted on 2009-11-05 at 06:55:35ID: 25750071

The policy is applied to the user account.  I have already run gpupdate /force.  I want the policy to applied to specific users.  I'll apply it to the computer account and keep you posted.

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-11-05 at 06:56:27ID: 25750083

File system policies need to be applied to the computer as they are computer configuration, you cannot apply these settings to users.

This will be why it is not working.

 

by: dws_sysopsPosted on 2009-11-05 at 09:31:23ID: 25751825

Works mostly now....but I cannot lock down C:\Documents and Settings\%username%.  I do not want users to create files on this directory.  When I create the setting for this path, the end result is C:\Documents and Settings\Documents and Settings\%username%.  The setting adds Documents and Settings twice.  Ideas?

 

by: dws_sysopsPosted on 2009-11-05 at 09:37:35ID: 25751875

Additionally, if I type in C:\Docs&Settings\%username% then the user name shows up as the admin account.  Here is a screen shot....

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-11-05 at 09:44:40ID: 25751937

I don't think that's possible, if they don't have permissions to their own profile folder your going to get all sorts of problems.

If you really want to do it you may have to use login scripts to remove the permission at login using xcacls: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/318754

 

by: dws_sysopsPosted on 2009-11-05 at 09:50:09ID: 25751990

I was afraid of that.  Thanks for all your assistance.  Besides the user profile directory, everything else is working perfectly.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...