Why doesn't Windows 2000 apply Group Policy Objects (GPOs) that I set at the organizational unit (OU) level to members of that OU?

A. Win2K might not apply GPO settings at the OU level even when everything appears OK at higher levels in the Active Directory (AD) structure. This problem commonly occurs if the client’s preferred DNS server address isn’t working. To determine whether you have that problem, perform the following actions:

If these entries exist, the client's preferred DNS server address is invalid or unreachable, which prevents access to the DNS information, and in turn to AD information and applicable GPOs.

To resolve this problem, correct the DNS address by performing the following steps:

Now, when you log on as a user of the OU in question, Win2K will apply the GPO settings. For additional information about the Application log error, see the Microsoft article "Event ID 1000 Is Logged in the Application Event Log."