Resolution
NetIQ Group Policy Administrator 3.0
symptom
Restoring a GPO from a Backup created with GPA causes software packages to uninstall from client machines.
cause
The cause of this issue is that install packages have their own unique GUID. The Backup/Restore functionality of GPA, under the Administrator node, is deleting and then recreating the software installer package, causing it to be created with a new GUID.
fix
When there is an installer package associated with a GPO, the installer package is given its own unique GUID. When you perform a restore operation (from the Administrator node) NetIQ GPA is deleting and then recreating the GPO. NetIQ GPA recreates the GPO with the same GUID that it had before the restore but the GUID of the installer package gets recreated with a new GUID. When the workstations are restarted, the workstations sees that the GUID is different and if the GPO has the setting to 'uninstall applications when they fall out of scope of management' is set, the applications start uninstalling.
The following workarounds are available for NetIQ GPA 3.0
- Remove the "Uninstall Application when it falls out of scope..." setting from the GPO.
- Export the GPO from the repository. (Exporting from the repository has a different algorithm. It just modifies the existing GPO and does not change the GUID of the installer package.)
note
This issue is corrected in NetIQ GPA 4.0. In GPA 4.0, the backup restore operation restores the software package with the original GUID.