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Test an AppLocker policy by using Test-AppLockerPolicy

This article for IT professionals describes the steps to test an AppLocker policy prior to importing it into a Group Policy Object (GPO) or another computer.

The Test-AppLockerPolicy Windows PowerShell cmdlet can be used to determine whether any of the rules in your rule collections block apps run on the local computer. Perform the following steps on any computer where the AppLocker policies are applied.

Any user account can be used to complete this procedure.

To test an AppLocker policy by using Test-AppLockerPolicy

  1. Export the effective AppLocker policy using the Get-AppLockerPolicy Windows PowerShell cmdlet.

    1. Open a Windows PowerShell command prompt window as an administrator.

    2. Use the Get-AppLockerPolicy cmdlet to export the effective AppLocker policy to an XML file:

      Get-AppLockerPolicy -Effective -XML > <PathofFiletoExport.XML>

  2. Use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to specify the directory that you want to test, specify the Test-AppLockerPolicy cmdlet with the XML file from the previous step to test the policy, and use the Export-CSV cmdlet to export the results to a file to be analyzed:

    Get-ChildItem <DirectoryPathtoReview> -Filter <FileExtensionFilter> -Recurse | Convert-Path | Test-AppLockerPolicy -XMLPolicy <PathToExportedPolicyFile> -User <domain\username> -Filter <TypeofRuletoFilterFor> | Export-CSV <PathToExportResultsTo.CSV>

The following shows example input for Test-AppLockerPolicy:

PS C:\ Get-AppLockerPolicy -Effective -XML > C:\Effective.xml
PS C:\ Get-ChildItem 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\' -filter *.exe -Recurse | Convert-Path | Test-AppLockerPolicy -XMLPolicy C:\Effective.xml -User contoso\zwie -Filter Denied,DeniedByDefault | Export-CSV C:\BlockedFiles.csv

In the example, the effective AppLocker policy is exported to the file C:\Effective.xml. The Get-ChildItem cmdlet is used to recursively gather path names for the .exe files in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\. The XMLPolicy parameter specifies that the C:\Effective.xml file is an XML AppLocker policy file. By specifying the User parameter, you can test the rules for specific users, and the Export-CSV cmdlet allows the results to be exported to a comma-separated file. In the example, -FilterDenied,DeniedByDefault displays only those files that blocked for the user under the policy.