Another important question to ask is ‘how are GPOs applied over slow links?’. Although most users log on over a relatively high-bandwidth connection such as a LAN, remote and roaming users often log on through low-bandwidth dial-up connections. Other factors can affect connection bandwidth as well. During group policy processing, Windows Server 2003 uses a relatively complex method to determine the connection speed.

Windows Server 2003 first attempts to ping the server, making several attempts to determine an average transmission rate. Failing the ping, Windows Server 2003 measures the connection speed by testing file system performance, the same method used in Windows NT. If Windows Server 2003 detects a slow connection, it processes the group policies as follows:

1. The security policy is processed.
2. The policies in Administrative Templates are processed.
3. The software installation is not processed.
4. The scripts are not processed.
5. The folder redirection is not processed.
6. The Internet Explorer maintenance is not processed.

You can configure the slow-link behavior through the Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Group Policy/Group Policy Slow Link Detection policy of the group policy object and for user policies through the same node of the User Configuration branch. You can configure these settings for each GPO, enabling you to apply group policies differently for each GPO across a slow link.

As mentioned above, Windows Server 2003 updates group policies automatically based on the refresh interval you specify for group policies, with the default refresh interval being 90 minutes. You can force a group policy refresh in between automatic refreshes, if needed. You can refresh the Computer Configuration policies and User Configuration policies separately.

To refresh Computer Configuration policies, select Run from the Start Menu. In the Run dialog box, type gpupdate /target:computer /force and click OK.

To refresh User Configuration policies, select Run from the Start menu. In the Run dialog box, type gpupdate /target:user /force and click OK.