GPP Scheduled Task Fails in Group Policy Modeling depending on DC

Question

We have multiple domain controllers running at a 2003 functional level.
We have 1 DC running Server 2003 x86 SP2 and the rest run Server 2008 (maybe R2)
I created a GPO that includes a Scheduled Task Group Policy Preference under Computer Configuration.
In order to test this I used Group Policy Modeling in the GPMC on a 2008 R2 Machine where I am editing Group Policy.
If I run the modeling (perform the simulation on the 2003 DC it fails. (Note I am modeling the GPO for a different computer, not the 2003 SP2 DC, I am running the modeling for a Workstation)
Information from the Component Status on the Summary Tab of the Modeling Report
Component Name Status 
Group Policy Infrastructure Success 
EFS recovery Success (no data) 
Group Policy Scheduled Tasks Failed 
Group Policy Scheduled Tasks failed due to the error listed below and failed to log resultant set of policy information.
Additional information may have been logged. Review the application event log on the domain controller on which the simulation was run for events between 2/28/2014 10:07:36 AM and 2/28/2014 10:07:36 AM. 
Registry Success 
Security Success 
Info on the Settings Tab of the Modeling Report below.
An error has occurred while collecting data for Scheduled Tasks.
The following errors were encountered: 
An unknown error occurred while data was gathered for this extension. Details: Invalid class  
If I run the modeling using a 2008 DC to perform the simulation it works fine.
Per the instructions on the Summary Tab regarding the scheduled task failure I look at the event log on the 2003 domain controller and this is what i find.
The event I get on the 2003 DC is 8196 and I will place the details below.
Event Type:   Error
Event Source:           Group Policy Scheduled Tasks
Event Category:        Disk
Event ID:       8196
Date:              2/27/2014
Time:             4:48:47 PM
User:              NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer:     <computername>
Description:
The client-side extension caught the unhandled exception '0xC0000005' inside: 'threadEntry : client main' See trace file for more details. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
So, should I be concerned that this is failing on the 2003 DC, does this mean that if my workstations authenticate to my 2003 DC that the preference will not process?
I was reading that in 2003 client side extensions were not there and can be installed, would this make the modeling succeed?
How do I get verified, I tried to post screenshots, but I could not. :(

Answer 1

Hi Jonathan,
As you have found the reason, I want to confirm whether the issue has been fixed.
In fact, for Windows Server 2003 to apply or process Group Policy Preferences settings, we must install client-side extensions of GPP for Windows Server 2003.
Although this is not related to this case, for your information, if our clients are Windows XP or Windows Vista, to use GPP, we must install client-side extensions for these
workstations respectively.
Regarding GPP, the following article can be referred to for more information.
Group Policy Preferences Getting Started Guide
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731892(v=WS.10).aspx
Best regards,
Frank Shen