How can I check the health of my Group Policy Objects (GPOs) in Windows Server 2003?

A. You can use Gpotool, which is included in the Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en ), to perform a check of the local user's home domain policies. To use the tool, open a command line and type

Gpotool

which, on my machine displays the following sample output:

Validating DCs...Available DCs:SAVDALDC01.savilltech.comSearching for policies...Found 2 policiesPolicy {31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}Friendly name: Default Domain PolicyPolicy OKPolicy {6AC1786C-016F-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}Friendly name: Default Domain Controllers PolicyPolicy OK

You can use Gpotool with the /verbose switch to get more detailed information, and you can select a specific domain, domain controller (DC), and GPO by using the /domain, /dc, and /gpo switches, respectively. By default, the tool checks all GPOs on all DCs for consistency between the information stored in AD and the information in the template within SYSVOL. This is a great tool to use to check the general health of your Group Policy environment.