Assign DFS share to intranet zone via GPO?

Solution 1:

When refreshing group policy it is usually necessary to log out and for some settings a restart (sometimes 2!) is necessary. I wouldn't call it arcane but it won't be obvious if you haven't documentation regarding group policy processing.

Solution 2:

The shell (explorer.exe) is caching the policy. Simply restart the shell and many settings will start to be applied. There is no need to log out/back in for many scenarios.

Exiting the shell:

  • Windows 7: Ctrl+Shift+right click on blank area of Start Menu | Exit Explorer
  • Windows 8: Ctrl+Shift+right click on Start Menu button | Exit Explorer

Restarting shell:

  • Ctrl+Shift+Esc, File | New Task (Run...) | "explorer"