Find Missing gpedit.msc | Windows 10

Group policy is a manner to configure pc and consumer settings for a neighborhood pc or a community joined pc (the use of Active Directory). It may be used to configure nearly all elements of the Operating System along with software program and Windows Settings, community and protection guidelines etc. Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is a configuration supervisor for Windows which makes it less complicated to configure organization guidelines.

Most local group policies require changes in Windows Registry.Instead of going through Windows Registry, the user can configure different aspects of the Windows Operating System through a group policy editor.

One of the very principal variations among Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Home versions is the network management capabilities. Other variations encompass the exclusion of Remote Desktop and Group Policy Editor for Windows 10 Home Edition. In fact, the Group Policy Editor isn't to be had to any Windows Home users, be it Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.

If the group policy editor is missing from your version of Windows 10 or if you are getting an error on gpedit.msc not found, you should check out which Windows 10 edition you’re using.

This is a extreme downside as we need the group policies even for managing the settings of local computer. The local group policy is better than changing the settings through Windows Registry which is much riskier. While most group policy settings can revert easily, Registry editing can have adverse effects on the system.

In this article, we will guide you to install the Group Policy Editor for Windows 10 Home edition. This method can be used in Windows 7 and Windows 8 too.

Download and Install GPEdit.msc in Windows 10 Home using PowerShell script

• Download the GPEdit Enabler script from the link below
  

    GPEdit Enabler for Windows 10 Home Edition (393 bytes)

  This is a simple PowerShell script that will install the disabled Group Policy feature in the Windows 10 Home edition.
• Right-click the downloaded gpedit-enabler.bat file and select Run as Administrator.
• This will start the installation process. It may take some time depending upon your system performance. Once the process is complete, press any key to close the command prompt window.

• Although a restart is not required, if the policies are not working, you should restart the computer once.

How to open the group policy editor after installing

After you install the group policy editor, you should be able to access local group policies and edit group policies that are already implemented on your computer.

Open the Run dialog by pressing the Windows key + R. Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter key or OK button. This should open gpedit in Windows 10 Home.

Some people complain that although this method has enabled the group policy editor, most of the settings do not work in the Home edition version. If both the methods fail in your case, you should try out the third method discussed below.

Enable Group Policy Editor in Windows 10 Home using GPEdit Installer

Since the Group Policy Editor is not included by default in Windows 10, we will need to download the editor first. You can download it from the below-mentioned download link.

Download GPEdit.msc Installer (854.7 KiB)

This is a simple setup file which when run will install and configure the Group Policy Editor in your Windows Home system.

Installing gpedit.msc correctly

If you have a 32-bit Windows (x86) then the setup should be installed smoothly without any problems, and you should be able to access the Group Policy Editor through the Microsoft Management Console by going to Run –> gpedit.msc. However, if you have Windows 64-bit (x64) then you will need some extra steps after running the installer. Follow the steps below after running the installer:

1. Go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder
2. Copy the following folders and files from C:\Windows\SysWOW64 to C:\Windows\System32
   “GroupPolicy“, “GroupPolicyUsers” and gpedit.msc.

This will ensure you run the editor from the Run dialog.

Solving common problems with running gpedit.msc

If you are getting an “MMC cannot create a snap-in” error message while starting gpedit.msc, you can follow the steps below for a solution:

1. Go to C:\Windows\Temp\gpedit\ folder and make sure it exists.
2. Download the following zip file and unzip it to C:\Windows\Temp\gpedit\. This should replace two files x86.bat and x64.bat.
   

     gpedit-temp-files-x86x64 (1.3 KiB, 68,035 hits)

3. Now run x86.bat if you are running 32-bit Operating System and x64.bat if you are running 64-bit Windows 10. Make sure you are running the batch files as Administrator.

After following the above-mentioned steps, you should have a working Group Policy Editor in Windows 10 Home edition. In case of any confusion or problem, you are always encouraged to discuss by commenting below.

Download Group Policy Editor for Windows 10 – Policy Plus

Policy Plus is a third-party app and an alternative to the built-in Group Policy editor. Its interface is very similar to GPEdit. One major benefit of using Policy Plus is that it comes with a search function where you can search for your required policies.

1. Download Policy Plus from the below-given link:
   

     Policy Plus (10.3 KiB)

2. Run Policy-Plus.exe. It is a portable app so it will open immediately. You can make changes to the policies exactly how you do it in the Windows built-in group policy editor.

Hopefully, these methods will help you enable gpedit.msc in your system.

One thing to note here is that these methods are useful when you want to use local group policy editor. If you are a domain administrator and want to configure group policies on a Windows 10 Home computer using Windows Server Active Directory, this method will not be effective as Windows 10 Home does not support joining a domain in Active Directory.