Deleting a GPO

Problem

You want to delete a GPO.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the GPMC snap-in.
2. In the left pane, expand the Forest container, expand the Domains container, browse to the domain of the target GPO, and expand the Group Policy Objects container.
3. Right-click on the target GPO and select Delete.
4. Click OK to confirm.

Using a command-line interface

> deletegpo.wsf [/domain:]

Discussion

When you delete a GPO through the GPMC, it attempts to find all links to the GPO in the domain and will delete them if the user has permissions to delete the links. If the user does not have the necessary permissions to remove the links, the GPO will still get deleted, but the links will remain intact. Any links external to the domain the GPO is in are not automatically deleted. It is for this reason that it is a good practice to view the links to the GPO before you delete it. Links to deleted GPOs show up as "Not Found" in GPMC.