Puppet Local Group Policy (Windows)

NOTE: This module has been abandoned both upstream and here. You are strongly advise to not use this module nor the upstream version.

I have personally given up trying to use this local_group_policy module. The main reason is that it breaks if there are any group policy localization files. This happens if one has installed localized software which bundles group policies with it. This renders to provider useless except in pure American English environment.

What the provider essentially does (via tons of detours) is change the contents of Registry.pol, which is a simple text file with contents such as this (linefeeds added for clarity):

PReg
[Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System;Wallpaper;;F;c:\users\samuli\pictures\green.jpg]
[Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System;WallpaperStyle;;;4]
[Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ControlPanel\Desktop;ScreenSaveActive;;;1]

Serving the Registry.pol file from the Puppet fileserver, or generating it from a template, is much simpler and more robust approach than what the local_group_policy used. Here's a snippet of Puppet code that refreshes the local group policy:

file { 'local-group-policy':
    ensure => 'present',
    name   => 'C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\User\Registry.pol',
    source => 'puppet:///modules/windesktop/Registry.pol',
    notify => Exec['refresh-group-policy'],
}

exec { 'refresh-group-policy':
    command     => 'c:\Windows\System32\gpupdate.exe /force',
    refreshonly => true,
}

The Local Group Policy Editor (GUI) can be used to figure out what to put into Registry.pol.