"Remove this item if it is no longer applied" option behavior in Group Policy preferences

This article describes the behavior of the Remove this item if it is no longer applied option in Group Policy preferences.

Applies to:   Windows Server (All supported versions), Windows client (All supported versions)
Original KB number:   3060859

Summary

Windows Server 2008 and later versions of Windows use the Group Policy preferences feature. On the Common tab in Group Policy preferences, there's a Remove this Item when it is no longer applied option. This option removes a preferences item if it was applied before. There is a local database on the computer that stores this information.

Because the Remove this item when it is no longer applied option is considered on a per-machine basis, this database is not roamed under Roaming User Profiles. Therefore, if a change is made by Group Policy preferences to portions of the user profile that roam between computers (for example, the user registry), the Remove this item if it is no longer applied option should not be used. This option does not work in a roaming scenario.

More information

For a computer policy setting, the database is stored in the following location:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Group Policy\History

For a user policy setting, the database is stored in the following location:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Group Policy\History