Linking the Folder Guard GPO

At this point the GPO is configured and ready to use. To specify which parts of your network should use the settings of this GPO, link it to the appropriate Organizational Units (OU), just like any other GPO. In our example, we have only one OU, and we will link this GPO to it, by right-clicking on it in Group Policy Management tool, and choosing Link an Existing GPO from the shortcut menu:

Select Folder Guard GPO from the list, and press OK. From this moment on, the computers in the OU will start to download the GPO from the server and apply the GPO settings. You are done!

Well, not quite. If you are new to the GPO world, you will probably notice that nothing seems to change on the client computers for some time. This is because the Group Policy updates are not performed immediately, it may take as long as 90 or 120 minutes for the changes to take effect on the network computers.

It's possible to force the update to the Group Policy, though. On the client computer where you want the Group Policy to be updated (not on the server!) open the command prompt as Administrator, and enter the gpudate command. It should force the client computer to obtain the current Group Policy from the server and apply it in real time, without waiting a couple of hours for the update to happen automatically:

Keep in mind, however, that some changes to the Folder Guard settings become effective only when a user logs in to the computer. So, after you have changed the Folder Guard GPO on the server, and issued gpudate on the client, you may still need to log off the client and log back on for the new settings to take effect.

In some situations it's not enough to log off and log back on, but a full computer restart is required. For example, if you have linked the Folder Guard GPO to a computer for the first time, and performed gpudate on the client, the client computer must be restarted in order for Folder Guard software to be actually installed on it. The restart is also needed after you post an updated version of Folder Guard software on the server: the software update can only happen after the client computer is restarted.

Please consult your Windows Server documentation for more information on GPOs and Group Policy.