By
Delia
/ Last
update
February 25, 2022
Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides centralized management and configuration of user settings in the operating system, applications, and Active Directory.
Simply put, it controls what users can or cannot do on a computer, prevents users from choosing overly simple passwords, allows or prevents unidentified users from connecting to network shares from remote computers, blocks access to Windows Task Manager or restricts access to specific folders, and much more.
Usually, to access Group Policy you can search for it directly in Windows or type "gpedit.msc" in the Run window. However, some computers may prompt "Windows cannot find gpedit.msc" after typing this command. How can I solve this problem?
How to solve Windows cannot find “gpedit.msc”
1. Press and hold the shortcut key WIN + R to open the Run window, type "regedit" to open the Registry Editor.
2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to:
3. Then set the value of "RestrictToPermittedSnapins" to "0".
4. If you cannot find MMC following the above path, then you can create a new text document on the desktop, and then copy the following content to it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC\{8FC0B734-A0E1-11D1-A7D3-0000F87571E3}]
"Restrict_Run"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC\{8FC0B734-A0E1-11D1-A7D3-0000F87571E3}]
"Restrict_Run"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC]
"RestrictToPermittedSnapins"=dword:00000000
5. After copying and pasting, change the file suffix to “.reg” and run it, then you should be able find the MMC entry in Registry Editor.
After restarting your computer, you can open Group Policy by entering the gpedit.msc command again.
How to enable “gpedit.msc” in Windows 10 Home Edition
Windows 10 Home Edition does not include Group Policy by default, but that doesn't mean it can't support Group Policy. The Home Edition actually comes with the relevant files, it just doesn't usually let you use them. You can get the system to allow you to use it by doing the following:
1. First you need to create a new txt text document on the desktop.
2. Then copy the following code into this new txt text document:
@echo off
pushd "%~dp0"
echo List all Group Policy Editor client related win10 package files to Files.txt file.
dir /b C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package~3*.mum >Files.txt
dir /b C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package~3*.mum >>Files.txt
echo Run dism command to install Group Policy Editor...
for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . Files.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /add-package:"C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\%%i"
echo.
echo Group Policy Editor Installation complete.
echo.
pause
This command is to traverse the system disk servicing directory by dir command to find the configuration package of Group Policy, write it to the gp.txt file after finding it, and then install the Group Policy package by dism command.
3. Save and close, then rename the new text document, modify its suffix ".txt" to ".cmd".
4. Right-click this created file, select “Run as administrator”.
Then you can try to see if you can open the Group Policy properly.