You have a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer or a Windows Vista-based computer in a domain. Some registry-based policy settings are lost on the computer when either of the following conditions is true:

• Group Policy settings are changed.
• Group Policy settings have to be reapplied at set intervals to the computers in the domain.

Additionally, error messages that resemble the following may be logged in the Application log:

Message 1

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1096
Date: 26/04/2006
Time: 06:14:57
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: Computer_Name
Description:
Windows cannot access the registry policy file, \\Domain.NET\SysVol\Domain.NET\Policies\{82787E36-87C9-4C34-AD95-72365A389553}\Machine\registry.pol. (The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.).

Message 2

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1043
Date: 26/04/2006
Time: 06:14:56
User:
Computer: Computer_Name
Description:
Windows cannot access the registry information at \\Domain.NET\SysVol\Domain.NET\Policies\{82787E36-87C9-4C34-AD95-72365A389553}\Machine\registry.pol. (The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.).