Audit System Events
Audits system startup, shutdown, and time changes.
- Policy path
- Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Audit Policy
- Supported on
- Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016 and later
Audits system startup, shutdown, and time changes. Security baselines recommend setting it to Success and Failure.
Description
Audit System Events is a Windows Group Policy setting located under Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Audit Policy. It applies to the Computer Configuration branch and is classified as a Informational-level policy in the Local Policies category.
Audits system startup, shutdown, and time changes.
Microsoft sets the default value to No auditing while industry security baselines (CIS, NIST, DISA STIG) recommend Success and Failure.
In-depth explanation
This is primarily an operational or user-experience setting. It does not directly raise or lower the security posture, but it standardizes behavior across the fleet, which is important for predictable support, training, and troubleshooting in an MSP-managed environment.
The policy is grouped under Local Policies – Audit, which means it is typically applied through a domain-wide GPO linked at the OU level. In a multi-tenant MSP context, scope it through WMI filters or security group filtering rather than linking at the domain root, so that you can roll out progressively (pilot OU → wider rings → all production).
The setting takes effect after the next Group Policy refresh (gpupdate /force for immediate testing, or by default within ~90 minutes for workstations and ~5 minutes on domain controllers). For computer-side policies a reboot may be required; for user-side policies, a sign-off/sign-on cycle is enough.
Use cases
- Apply organization-wide hardening of local policies on all domain-joined Windows endpoints.
- Roll out a CIS Benchmark-aligned baseline targeting 'Audit System Events' via a dedicated GPO.
- Reduce attack surface for accounts that handle privileged credentials or sensitive data.
- Standardize the configuration across multiple customer tenants for an MSP-managed fleet.
Security implications
This control is primarily about consistency and supportability rather than security. The main risk of leaving it unconfigured is divergence between machines, which makes troubleshooting and standardized imaging harder, especially across multiple customer tenants in an MSP context.
How to configure
- Open Group Policy Management Console (
gpmc.msc) on a domain controller or a workstation with RSAT installed. - Create or edit a GPO linked to the OU containing the target computer configurations. We recommend a dedicated baseline GPO (e.g. SEC – Local Policies) instead of editing Default Domain Policy.
- Navigate to
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Audit Policy. - Open Audit System Events and set it to
Success and Failure. - Click OK and close the editor.
- On the target endpoint, run
gpupdate /force(or wait for the next refresh cycle), then verify withrsop.mscorgpresult /h report.html.