Removing a link to a GPO stops the site, domain, or OU from using the related policy settings. It doesn’t delete the GPO, however. The GPO remains linked to other sites, domains, or OUs as appropriate. If you remove all links to the GPO from sites, domains, and OUs, the GPO will continue to exist—it will still "live" in the Group Policy Objects container—but its policy settings will have no effect in your enterprise.

To remove a link to a GPO, right-click the GPO link in the container to which it is linked and then select Delete. When prompted to confirm that you want to remove the link, click OK.

Deleting a GPO permanently removes the GPO and all links to it. The GPO will not continue to exist in the Group Policy Objects container and will not be linked to any sites, domains, or OUs. The only way to recover a deleted GPO is to restore it from a backup (if one is available).

To remove a GPO and all links to the object, expand the forest, the Domains node, and the Group Policy Objects node. Right-click the GPO, and then select Delete. When prompted to confirm that you want to remove the GPO and all links to it, click OK.