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Group Policy Preferences copies values for REG_BINARY registry entries in reverse order on Windows 7 computers


Symptoms

You have used Group Policy Preferences (GPP) to copy a REG_BINARY value from one registry location into another, with use of a variable name.The REG_BINARY value is copied backwards.

Example steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Under “Computer Configuration\Preferences\Windows Settings\Registry” create a new registry item called BinarySource

General Tab Settings
Action: Update
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key path: SOFTWARE\Microsoft
Value name: BinarySource 
Value type: REG_BINARY
Value data: 0000000000000001

Common Tab settings
Stop processing items on this extension if an error occurs on this item: No
Remove this item when it is no longer applied: No
Apply once and do not reapply: No

2. Under “Computer Configuration\Preferences\Windows Settings\Registry” create another new registry item called BinaryTarget

General Tab Settings
Action: Update
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key path: SOFTWARE\Microsoft
Value name: BinaryTarget
Value type: REG_BINARY
Value data: %BinaryVariable%

Common Tab Settings

Stop processing items on this extension if an error occurs on this item: No
Remove this item when it is no longer applied: No
Apply once and do not reapply: No
Item-level targeting: Registry Match

Attribute Value
bool AND
not 0
type GET VALUE DATA
hive HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
key SOFTWARE\Microsoft
valueName BinarySource 
valueType REG_BINARY
variableName BinaryVariable

Expected Result:

When applying this GPP the value from BinarySource gets copied to BinaryTarget. As a result BinaryTarget should contain the value 0000000000000001.

Actual Result:

As a result of a bug, when GPP copies the reg_binaray value from BinarySource to BinaryTarget, the value for BinaryTarget incorrrectly gets copied as 1000000000000000. 

Note:
The data has been reversed. This is not as expected.

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Cause

Microsoft has confirmed this is a code defect with Group Policy Preferences. 

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Resolution

Please contact Microsoft Support if you require a hotfix for Windows 7. 

As a workaround you can use an alternative method to copy the registry value. For example, import and export using a .reg file. For more information see Microsoft KB article:

310516 How to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a registration entries (.reg) file
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310516.

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Keywords: kbgpo, kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 2553629
Revision : 1
Created on : 1/7/2017
Published on : 6/9/2011
Exists online : False
Views : 101