question

Hello giovanniotto,

Thank you for post here.

To further narrow down our issue, we would like to get more detailed information. Would you please help to collect the following information:

1.Are the computers that is remote domain-joined computer or not?
2.Do you link the GPO with associations configuration file to OU or domain?
3.If we link the GPO with associations configuration file to OU, are the machines that is remote in the same OU as the computers at the office?

Meanwhile, we can troubleshoot as below:

1.Is the file in a local path or a shared path when we configure the GPO setting (Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\File Explorer\Set a default associations configuration file)?

If it is a local path, we can check if we copy this file to all these machines that is remote.
If it is a UNC path (Universal Naming Convention), we can check if we have shared this file to all these machines that is remote and check if we can access this shared file.

2.Would you please provide the gpresult file about one problematic machine that is remote. We can take a screenshot with associations configuration file setting.
(1)Log on the machine with Administrator account.
(2)Open CMD and run as Administrator.
(3)Type gpresult /h C:\file.html and click Enter.
(4)Check the group policy setting under “Computer Details” after opening file.html.

Best Regards,
Daisy Zhou

Good day Daisy,

Thank you for your reply.

Please see my answers below.
1. The computers were all joined at the office on the network. Note the GPO has only been applied recently while the computers were already working remotely.
2. Initially with testing the GPO was linked to an OU but I have linked it on the root. There are also no block inheritance configured on the OU's.
3. Yes the computer accounts are in the same OU as computers in the office.

To answer the troubleshooting questions.
1. I have placed the xml file in the GPO folder under SYSVOL when I browse to the location I can access it.

GPO Config

GPRESULTS

let me know if you require anything else.

Regards
Giovanni

Hello,
Thank you for your update.

So the local group policy setting on the machien that is remote does not work, is that right?

If so, we can try the the following methods one by one to see if it helps:

1.Change the .xml to .txt.
2.Delete the first line of the xml file.

3.Change the .xml to .txt and delete the first line of the xml file.

Here is a similar case I used to reply.
Group Policy isnt being applied | Default Association Configuration File
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/61b2482d-7c8f-4cd4-97d8-b82c0e58d941/group-policy-isnt-being-applied-default-association-configuration-file?forum=winserverGP

Tip: In my lab, there is a machine in the domain, the local group policy setting (Association File GPO) does not work, either. It worked after delete the first line of the content in the xml file.

Best Regards,
Daisy Zhou

Hello,

Thank you for all the help.

I did try your suggestions to change the file to txt and I also removed the first line in the file but it did not work for me. In the registry I could see it's pointing to the xml or txt file but it does not work to set the defaults.

I while back a created a GPO to copy a .bat file to the computer then run the file and I wondered if i could do the same with this xml file. Under User\Prefences\File I set the file to be copied to C:\Windows and set the default association setting to reference the file locally. I have tested with a few users and it's working very well.

I initially set the action to Update but I got an access denied message in gpresult and changed it to create and it's working.