Ensure 'Configure registry policy processing: Do not apply during periodic background processing' is set to 'Enabled: FALSE'

HighLevel 1Automatedwindows

Description

The "Do not apply during periodic background processing" option prevents the system from updating affected registry policies in the background while the computer is in use. When background updates are disabled, registry policy changes will not take effect until the next user logon or system restart. This setting affects all policy settings within the Administrative Templates folder and any other policies that store values in the registry. The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled: FALSE (unchecked).

How it is checked

Audit method: Windows registry

registry

$bad = @(); $v = (Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Group Policy\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}' -Name 'NoBackgroundPolicy' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).'NoBackgroundPolicy'; if (-not ($null -ne $v -and @(0) -contains [int64]$v)) { $bad += 'NoBackgroundPolicy=' + $v }; if ($bad.Count -eq 0) { 'compliant' } else { 'non-compliant: ' + ($bad -join ', ') }

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Shell command

shell

if (-not (Test-Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Group Policy\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}')) { New-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Group Policy\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}' -Force | Out-Null }; New-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Group Policy\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}' -Name 'NoBackgroundPolicy' -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord -Force | Out-Null

Properties

Operating systems: windows-10
Tags: cis-convertedregistrywindows
Reference: CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Benchmark v4.0.0 - 18.9.19.2

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target windows