gpupdate

gpupdate is a Windows command-line tool used to refresh Group Policy settings on a local computer. Group Policy objects (GPOs) define settings for both computer and user configurations, and gpupdate retrieves the latest policy data from domain controllers and applies it to the machine where the command is run. Policy refresh can affect security settings, software installation, scripts, and other managed configurations.

When you run gpupdate, Windows proceeds to update computer policy and user policy as applicable. By default, policies are refreshed in the background at regular intervals (approximately every 90 minutes for both user and computer policies, with a random offset to reduce simultaneous updates across machines). The tool can be used to force a full reapplication of policies, ensuring all settings are reapplied even if they have not changed.

Common options include:

- /force to reapply all policy settings, not only those that have changed.

- /target:computer or /target:user to update only the computer or the user policy.

- /wait:value to specify how many seconds gpupdate should wait for policy processing to complete.

- /logoff to log off if a policy requires a logoff to apply.

- /boot to reboot if a policy requires a reboot to apply.

Results are shown in the command output and can also be viewed in the Event Viewer under Windows Logs and the GroupPolicy Operational log. Some changes require a logoff or reboot to take effect, and gpupdate may indicate when a reboot or logoff is needed. For broader analysis, gpresult can be used to inspect which policies are currently applied.