Replace mode will completely discard the user settings that normally apply to any users logging on to a machine applying loopback processing and replace them with the user settings that apply to the computer account instead. When Enabled you must select which mode loopback processing will operate in Replace or Merge.
The setting is found within the Computer Configuration node of a GPO:Ĭomputer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy > User Group Policy loopback processing mode This means that user configuration options can be applied to all users who log on to a specific computer.Ĭommon scenarios where this policy is used include public accessible terminals, machines acting as application kiosks, terminal servers and any other environment where the user settings should be determined by the computer account instead of the user account. The User Group Policy loopback processing mode option available within the computer configuration node of a Group Policy Object is a useful tool for ensuring certain user settings are applied on specified computers.Įssentially loopback processing changes the standard group policy processing in a way that allows user configuration settings to be applied based on the computers GPO scope during logon. At each stage a new GPO applies it will overwrite any conflicting settings with its own settings the final set of policies applied is known as the Resultant Set of Policies (RSoP) and can be viewed on a client device via the RSoP.msc console.Īny GPO that has been denied apply rights or filtered out via WMI Filtering is considered to be Out of scope So the in scope GPOs for an account consist of all Local policy GPOs, all of the Site GPOs, all of the Domain GPOs and all GPOs linked to each OU in the path of the account object. Group policies can be applied at four separate points within a domain structure (Local, Site, Domain and Organisational Unit (OU)) and are applied one after the other in precedence order for each step. The term in scope is used to refer to any GPO that applies to an object (computer account or user account).
Group Policy Objects (GPO) are a collection of configurable policy settings that are organised as a single object and contain Computer Configuration policies which are applied to computers during Startup and User Configuration policies which are applied to users during logon. A Little on Standard Group policy Processingīefore we look at how loopback processing works it may be beneficial to have a quick refresh on how standard group policy processing works.