Missing a GPO setting for Notifications

1. Prevent Users from Turning Off Toast Notifications: This setting controls whether toast notifications can be turned off. You will need to set this policy to Disabled, which prevents users from disabling the toast notifications:
   • GPO Setting:
     User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Start Menu and Taskbar → Turn off toast notifications
     • Set to Disabled to ensure that users cannot disable the notifications.
2. Enable Notifications (Force Notifications to Be On): This setting ensures that notifications are always enabled and cannot be turned off. It is part of a broader control over notification settings.
   • GPO Setting:
     User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Action Center → Enable notifications
     • Set to Enabled to ensure notifications remain active. This should enforce that users cannot disable them.
3. Lock Notification Settings Using Registry (Advanced Configuration): You can enforce specific notification settings through the registry, which can be pushed via GPO. Here are some registry keys related to notifications:
   • Registry Key for Disabling Notification Settings:
     • Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
     • Key: DisableNotificationCenter
     • Set to 1 to disable the Notification Center. Setting this to 0 will re-enable it.
   • Registry Key for Enabling Notifications:
     • Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ActionCenter
     • Key: DisableNotifications
     • Set to 0 to allow notifications. If set to 1, notifications will be disabled.
   You can push these registry keys through a GPO to lock the settings.

Steps to Implement:

1. Open Group Policy Management.
2. Navigate to User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Start Menu and Taskbar and enable "Turn off toast notifications" to Disabled.
3. Then, under User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Action Center, enable "Enable notifications" to Enabled.
4. Apply the policy to the desired organizational unit (OU) or domain.