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AD GPO

The download for CIS Compliance remediation utilising AD GPO policies are detailed in this document to help remediating major non-compliant CIS controls.

When the new GPO is updated, please refer this Excel sheet(GPO Policies) for the remediation steps.

ConnectSecure has Active Directory GPO templates for the required OS (Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2019) which helps in remediating major CIS controls.

  • Navigate to Company View> Compliance section and select Remediation to get to Remediation Compliance.

  • Download the required OS GPO policy from this section.

Compliance Remediation for Domain-joined Machines

Steps to Create GPO and Link into OU in Domain Controller

  • Navigate to Group Policy Management under Domain, right-click on WMI Filter, and then click on Import and select the WMI Filter file for the required OS (Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2019). Then click on Import. Please find the below screenshot for reference.

  • E.g. WMI Filter for Windows 10.

  • Click on the Import Button as shown in the below screenshot:

  • The existing OU will appear under Domain in Group Policy Management.

  • Right-click on Group Policy Objects → click on New and create a New GPO for Windows 10 Computer, Windows 10 User, Windows Server 2022 Computer, and Windows Server 2022 User and then click on OK.
    Eg : cis_win10_computer, cis_win10_user, cis_win2022_computer, cis_win2022_user

  • After creating GPOs for (Windows 10 Computer, Windows 10 User, Windows Server 2022 Computer, and Windows Server 2022 User) we have to Link these GPOs with the OU CCNS_CIS.
    To Link these GPOs to OU, right-click on the OU CCNS_CIS and then click on Link an Existing GPO and select all the GPOs for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2022 Computer and User.

  • Select all the GPOs for the required OS (Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2019 Computer and User).

  • We have to add a WMI Filter for the created GPOs.

  • Go to Group Policy Objects and click on the GPO ccns_win10_computer and ccns_win10_user, then scroll down and change WMI Filter to All Versions Windows 10 for Windows 10. Please find the below screenshot for reference.

  • For Windows Server 2022, select the WMI Filter as Windows Server 2022 Domain Controller.

  • Select a Windows 10 GPO and right-click on Group Policy Objects.

  • Select Import Settings, click Next → Next → select the shared backup file for the corresponding Windows 10 computer and user, and then click on Finish.

  • After updating the GPO's in the AD machine, we have to update the GPO policy in the linked AD machine.

  • Open Powershell as administrator and run the below command in the linked AD Windows 10 machine and linked Windows Server 2022 machine to update the GPO Policy

gpupdate /force

  • After applying GPO, kindly install an agent and check the compliance count and verify.

  • Eg. Before Applying GPO the Non-Compliant Count is 220 for Windows Server 2022.

  • Eg. After Applying GPO the Non-Compliant Count is 39 for Windows Server 2022.

  • This completes the Compliance Remediation documentation for Domain-joined machines.

Compliance Remediation for Workgroup Machines

  • To apply Compliance Remediation policies for Workgroup machines, please refer to the below video for reference.

  • Download the LGPO.exe using the below link

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55319

  • Download the GPO files for the preferred Operating System from the Compliance Remediation tab in ConnectSecure Portal.

  • Delete the “Backup.xml” and “gpreport.xml” files from the Compliance GPO folder downloaded from ConnectSecure.

  • Eg. Before Applying GPO the Non-Compliant Count is 281 for Windows 10.

  • Create a folder to take the backup of the existing group policy of the machine.

  • Please open the Command Prompt as an administrator and navigate to the downloaded LGPO folder and give space and give “/b” and give the path of the created backup folder.
    e.g. :

>> C:\Users\hash\Downloads\LGPO\LGPO_30\LGPO.exe /b C:\Users\hash\Downloads\gpo_backup

  • Now Backup will be created in the folder.

  • Navigate to the downloaded LGPO folder and give space and give “/g” and give the path of the Compliance Remediation folder downloaded from the portal


eg. :

>> C:\Users\hash\Downloads\LGPO\LGPO_30\LGPO.exe /g C:\Users\hash\Downloads\GPO_Windows_10\GPO_Windows_10

NOTE If the mentioned organization-specific User Rights Assignments are not modified within C:\LGPO\DoD Windows 10 v2r4\GPOs\{AD8929AD-5491-4E51-A04E-6588E76D85B6}\DomainSysvol\GPO\Machine\microsoft\windows nt\SecEdit\GptTmpl.inf prior to executing the script, LGPO would report the following error:


This Error can be ignored if received.

  • Once the policy is updated successfully you can run “gpupdate”.

  • Now the policy will be applied to Workgroup Machines.

  • Kindly restart the workgroup machine once the command is run.

  • Initiate a scan and check.

  • Eg. After Applying GPO the Non-Compliant Count is reduced to 50 for Windows 10.

Please try this at your own risk and try it first in the test instance and then install it in the production instance. Also please backup existing GPO to avoid any issues.

Screen Recording 2023-07-24 at 15.44.27.mov

  • This completes the Compliance Remediation documentation for Workgroup machines.

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