Refresh Group Policy settings with GPUpdate.exe

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To refresh Group Policy settings with GPUpdate

The gpupdate command refreshes local and Active Directory–based Group Policy settings, including security settings on the computer from where it is run. You can use gpupdate locally on Windows XP and higher computers to refresh policy immediately. On computers running Windows 2000, this functionality is provided by the using the secedit command with the refreshpolicy option.

Syntax

Gpupdate [/target:{computer|user}] [/force] [/wait:value] [/logoff] [/boot]

Parameters

  • ****/target:{computer|user}
    Processes only the computer settings or the current user settings. By default, both the computer settings and the user settings are processed.
  • /force
    Ignores all processing optimizations and reapplies all settings. The Group Policy engine on the client tracks versions of the GPOs that are applied to the user and computer. By default, if none of the GPO versions change and the list of GPOs remains the same, the Group Policy engine will not reprocess policy. This option overrides this optimization and forces the Group Policy engine to reprocess all policy information.
  • ****/wait:value
    Number of seconds that policy processing waits to finish. The default is 600 seconds. 0 means "no wait"; -1 means "wait indefinitely."
  • /logoff
    Logs off after the refresh has completed. This is required for those Group Policy client-side extensions that do not process on a background refresh cycle but that do process when the user logs on, such as user Software Installation and Folder Redirection. This option has no effect if there are no extensions called that require the user to log off.
  • /boot
    Restarts the computer after the refresh has completed. This is required for those Group Policy client-side extensions that do not process on a background refresh cycle but that do process when the computer starts up, such as computer Software Installation. This option has no effect if there are no extensions called that require the computer to be restarted.
  • /?
    Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

  • If you make a syntax error, a syntax summary appears that looks similar to this Help topic.

Examples

The following examples show how you can use the gpupdate command:

  • gpupdate

  • gpupdate /target:computer

  • **gpupdate /force /wait:**100

  • gpupdate /boot

Formatting legend

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Parameter that can be repeated several times in a command line

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Optional items

Between braces ({}); choices separated by pipe (|). Example: {even|odd}

Set of choices from which the user must choose only one

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Code or program output

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.