Practical tools for system, network, security, and operations administrators.

SYS-C0144 · Group Policy & Windows Security

GPO Processing Order (LSDOU) Explained

Say the GPO order as local, site, domain, then OU, and do not change a link while reading.

Updated 25 October 2026 · Explainer

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

LSDOU is the usual order. A link closer to the user wins when the settings conflict, and enforced and block-inheritance are exceptions you write down. The calculator uses names you type. It does not connect.

One conflict. Do not move a link during the reading. The domain is yours.

192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.

Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Name the two GPOs.
  2. Write which link is closer.
  3. Mark enforced if it is on.
  4. Do not change a link.
  5. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the command

GPO Processing Order (LSDOU) Explained goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for GPO Processing Order (LSDOU) Explained: The order is written. Enforced is yes or no. Nothing was moved. And the domain is yours.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The two GPOs are written. The closer link is written. Enforced is written. Nothing was moved. And the domain is yours. If one of those fails, stop.

# Local, site, domain, OU.
# Write enforced if it is on.
# Do not move a link during the reading.

Before you leave the host

GPO Processing Order (LSDOU) Explained ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.

This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.

Tools for this guide

These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.

More in this cluster

The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.