In Windows, why doesn't my group policy take effect immediately?

Windows 7, Vista, XP, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, and Server 2003 periodically refresh group policy settings throughout the network. On client computers, this is done by default every 90 minutes, with a randomized offset of plus or minus 30 minutes. When you make a change to a group policy, you may need to wait two hours (90 minutes plus a 30 minute offset) before you see any changes on the client computers. Even then, some changes will not take effect until after a reboot of the computer.

You can change the default values by modifying the settings in Administrative Templates. You cannot schedule a specific time to apply a Group Policy Object (GPO) to a client computer. Software installation and folder redirection settings in a GPO are processed only when a computer starts (computer-based policies) or when the user logs in (user-based policies), rather than at a particular time.

To force your Windows computer to check for group policy changes, see Using Windows XP or Vista, how do I force a group policy to be applied?

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