SOLVED: System Event Log – The Removal of the Assignment of Application Failed

If you are seeing the following error in your Windows System Event log, we likely have the fix:

Source: Application Management Group Policy
Event ID: 103
Level: Error
User: SYSTEM
Description: The removal of the assignment of application {application name} from policy policy name failed. The error was : %%2

What it is telling you is that GPO didn’t fully clean up the application. The solution is usually just to remove the computer in question from the policy all together, but if that fails, we have found the following items to help.

In particular #2, clearing out the registry and then rebooting seems to help.

1. Check for Orphaned Entries:
   • Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
   • Navigate to the specific GPO and ensure there are no lingering settings related to the application
   • If you find any, remove them and then run gpupdate /force again
2. Clear the Application Deployment Cache:
   • On the affected machine, open the Registry Editor (regedit)
   • Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\AppMgmt
   • Look for any entries related to the removed application and delete them
3. Check Event Viewer for Detailed Errors:
   • Open Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc)
   • Navigate to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > GroupPolicy > Operational
   • Look for any specific errors related to the GPO removal and address them accordingly
4. Reboot:
   • Just restart the whole machine