Group Policy completely failing on a few domain-joined client computers - group-policy

I've recently run into an issue where group policy is failing to apply on a few computers. When I run GPUPDATE /FORCE, this is the output:
Updating policy...
Computer Policy update has completed successfully.
The following warnings were encountered during computer policy processing:
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Folders settings. Group Policy Folders settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Files settings. Group Policy Files settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Registry settings. Group Policy Registry settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
User Policy update has completed successfully.
The following warnings were encountered during user policy processing:
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Folders settings. Group Policy Folders settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Files settings. Group Policy Files settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
Windows failed to apply the Deployed Printer Connections settings. Deployed Printer Connections settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Folder Options settings. Group Policy Folder Options settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Scheduled Tasks settings. Group Policy Scheduled Tasks settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link.
For more detailed information, review the event log or run GPRESULT /H GPReport.html from the command line to access information about Group Policy results.
I've done the following to troubleshoot, but I keep hitting walls and dead ends:
Removed and readded the faulting computers to the domain
Confirmed domain connectivity by successfully pinging domain controllers
Confirmed DNS settings haven't been changed on NICs
Used ProcMon to see if new files/folders are being added, but saw no references to these files/folders
Investigated Event Viewer, but only see generic errors like, "Windows failed to apply the Group Policy Files settings. Group Policy Files settings might have its own log file. Please click on the "More information" link." Diving deeper into Event Viewer -> Applications and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Group Policy -> Operational gives me errors with descriptions like, "Completed Group Policy Shortcuts Extension Processing in 62 milliseconds."
Checked RSOP on the faulting computers, and while I see the policy I'm trying to push listed in the General tab, the Error Information tab shows that Group Policy Registry, Folders, and Files all failed. The Details section simply states, "Group Policy [Registry/Files/Folders] failed due to the error listed below", yet no error is listed.
Ran GPRESULT /H GPReport.html and examined, but only receive generic messages like, "Additional information may have been logged. Review the Policy Events tab in the console or the application event log for events between 2/18/2021 12:29:39 PM and 2/18/2021 12:29:39 PM." This additional information referenced is reflected in point 5 above and is obviously unhelpful.
Tried GPUPDATE /SYNC, but I receive the error, "Failed to set the policy mode. Error - The system cannot find the file specified. Exiting...," and I have no idea what file this error is referencing.
Checked Event Viewer on domain controller, but found no relevant information about these failures
Checked for FS corruption via SFC /SCANNOW and DISM /ONLINE /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RESTOREHEALTH
I'm really pulling my hair out over this one. If anyone could point me in the right direction or provide a fix, that would be incredible. Thank you so much!

Related

how can i edit something in gpedit.msc with cmd/batchscript

My main problem is I am facing the problem ->
when i am trying to execute my exe file (which i written and compiled in C using GCC). I have found the solution and the solution is to change some of the settings under gpedit.msc
run -> gpedit.msc -> computer configuration -> windows settings -> security settings ->
local policies -> security options
there are multiple files. I just want to edit files whose name starts with "User Account Control: "
Either i want to enable or disable them. How can i do that programatically using cmd/batch script?
till now i have found secdit but that does not edit the values. link -> scroll down little bit and you will find secedit. I also used resource monitor to observe registry changes when i disable something according to this link -> Use Process Monitor to Find Registry Changes. But nothing shows up. Somewhere in the internet i also found that security policies are not always associated with registry values. But i forgot to save the link. I also found this stackoverflow article Modify Local Security Policy using Powershell
. But i can't understand anything as i know nothing about powershell programming and secedit or "how to edit database". Please provide some juicy resources to learn about editing security policies.
For your information i am building my program.exe in my local computer (house pc) and transferring the generated exe in "Amazon EC2 instance". If you say compile the program in "Amazon EC2" RDP i will say that i dont need to do that because my program.exe is running fine in "Amazon EC2" if i disable or enable some of the "User Account Control: " settings
Here is everything I wanted to know -> Registrykey Values Associated with local policies and thanks to -> Grzegorz Ochlik.

Where are the standard output commands for scheduled jobs logged in Rundeck?

I am trying to analyse the logs of scheduled jobs in a project in Rundeck. When I check the successful logs of a job in the Rundeck GUI, I can see some lines in the Log Output tab, however I wish to see where these logs are on the machine.
Here's what I have already tried:
I have checked /var/log/rundeck after reading some documentation here
I have also gone through the script to see if the logs are being logged elsewhere.
The logs I am looking for are standard print statements. Where can I find these logs?
Rundeck has two kind of logs, "general logs" (located at /var/log/rundeck) and Execution Logs (your question), located at: /var/lib/rundeck/logs/rundeck/your-project-name/job/your-job-id/logs.
Those paths exist if you have a DEB/RPM based installation. If you are using a WAR based installation the "general logs" are located in $RDECK_BASE/server/logs and Execution Logs at $RDECK_BASE/var/logs/rundeck/your-project-name/job/your-job-id/logs.

Where is the MSA operational log?

I have created a gMSA like this:
New-ADServiceAccount -name Cust00000 -DNSHostName Cust00000.domain.com -PrincipalsAllowedToRetrieveManagedPassword "IIS_IUSRS" -ManagedPasswordIntervalInDays 60
And life seems to be good. However, when I run
Test-ADServiceAccount Cust00000
This is what I get:
False
WARNING: Test failed for Managed Service Account Cust00000. If standalone Managed Service Account, the account is
linked to another computer object in the Active Directory. If group Managed Service Account, either this computer does
not have permission to use the group MSA or this computer does not support all the Kerberos encryption types required
for the gMSA. See the MSA operational log for more information.
I checked event viewer -> Application and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Apps -> Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational but this does not appear to be correct. Where (and possibly what) is the MSA operational log?
EDIT: For the overall issue, I had tried Install-ADServiceAccount but it wasn't working. I gave up on that and finally got it working (for a gMSA named Domain\sirdank$) with Set-ADServiceAccount sirdank -PrincipalsAllowedToRetrieveManagedPassword "$env:computername$" I've also had luck with passing "Domain Computers" instead of "$env:computername$".
Having a similar issue right now. I think the log you are looking for is in Event Viewer under Microsoft/Windows/Security-Netlogon/Operational log; you might see some 9001/9002 events (Task Category of MSA) which might give you some color on what is happening.
Got this from a recent TechNet blog post that describes troubleshooting gMSA account creation/testing issues. Take a look, it might be relevant to your overall issue: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/joelvickery/cannot-install-service-account-the-provided-context-did-not-match-the-target/
Alternate link (it appears the same post was cross-posted with a different title): https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/runcmd/the-rc4-removal-files-part-1-whats-in-an-error-message/

How to set Group Policy "Turn Off Automatic Root Certificates Update" vie Registry/Powershell?

I need to disable the following group policy in Windows 7 programatically, for example by modifying a registry key using Powershell:
"Turn Off Automatic Root Certificates Update"
Does anybody know which registry key needs to be set or unset in order to make this work?
I had a similar issue when i was creating an application that communicated with a server over HTTPS using two-way SSL.
This was causing a delay of a full minute when the initial request was made
It ran in WinPE where hand clicking through the local group policy editor was not an option.
There also is no way I am aware of to register a root authority in this environment and it is running in an incredibly restricted environment so it can not access windows update (not that it would find our corporate CA there anyway).
The registry value you are looking for is
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\AuthRoot
DWORD DisableRootAutoUpdate = 1
Source: http://www.group-policy.com/ref/policy/452/Turn_off_Automatic_Root_Certificates_Update
To turn off Automatic Root Certificates Update via Local Group Policy Editor:
Click Start, and then click Run.
Type gpedit.msc, and then click OK.
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
Under computer configuration, Double-click Administrative Templates, double-click System, double-click Internet Communication Management, and then click Internet Communication settings.
Double-click Turn off Automatic Root Certificates Update, click Enabled, and then click OK.
Close the Local Group Policy Editor.
Domain policies override local settings. That's how they're supposed to work (they'd be rather useless otherwise). If you want the policy disabled, disable or remove the policy in Group Policy Management or remove the computer from the domain.

'DefaultAppPool' is being automatically disabled due to a series of failures

Having a tough time with this issue. Not sure how but my ApplicationPoolIdentity is broken.
Currently I'm running IIS 8 on Windows 8 with Visual Studio 2012. When trying to debug an application from Visual Studio, or just navigating to the site in a browser I get the following error logged and a 503 error.
Application pool 'DefaultAppPool' is being automatically disabled due to a series of failures in the process(es) serving that application pool.
If I check out the Application error logs, I find the following error from the User Profile Service.
Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded. Check that you are connected to the network, and that your network is functioning correctly.
DETAIL - The system cannot find the path specified.
Upon looking into the details I find that the User Profile Service is trying to load up a profile with the Id
S-1-5-82-3006700770-424185619-1745488364-794895919-4004696415
Now I opened up the registry to try and find the profile with that UserId. However there's nothing in the Profile list that helps.
So digging around a little more I've found that this issue can be resolved by either
A) Set the Load User Profile of the Application Pool to false.
B) Use a different account for the application pool.
C) Fix the account.
Seeing how this is the built in account, I'd prefer to fix the issue rather than fix the sympton.
What I have tried
aspnet_regiis -i
Removing IIS from windows and reinstalling.
Attempted to follow the guide here but I don't know the account password :P
My hunch
Somehow the ApplicationPoolIdentity got messed up. Is there any physical folders for the built-in accounts? I know that the Network and Local service profiles physical directories exist at C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\. It is possible to recreate the ApplicationPoolIdentity profile? Or am I way off on what the real issue is?
C) Here is what i did to fix the account
Go in regedit at key
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
There is a setting called "Default". You have to make sure that the data value point to an existing directory on the drive.
By default it contains "%SystemDrive%\Users\Default". In my company the default is changed to a custom profile. Somehow, someone deleted that user profile. So when the defaultAppPool user tryed to create an accound for himself, it was unable to do so because windows cannot provide him with a default user profile.
You can also diagnose this error when looking at the Event Viewer under the Application folder. You will get a message of that type:
Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a
temporary profile. changes you make to this profile will be lost when
you log off.