How to enable gpedit.msc on Windows 10 Home Edition

The group policy editor is absent on the Home edition of Windows 10. In its place, users have the Registry Editor. The registry editor has more or less the same options as the group policy editor. Any changes that you can make to Windows 10 Professional by making changes to the group policy editor, can be made in Windows 10 Home by editing the registry. 

That said, if you compare the group policy editor to the registry editor, the group policy editor is far easier to use. Additionally, you will find certain settings in the group policy that you cannot change in the registry.

gpedit.msc on Windows 10 Home Edition

You can enable the group policy editor on Windows 10 Home edition. You must have admin rights on the system to enable it. The files for the group policy editor are already present on your system. All you need to know is how to set it up.

The files are located at;

C:\Windows\servicing\Packages

The files/packages for group policy editor are called;

Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package*.mum

and

Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package*.mum

Enable gpedit msc on Windows 10 Home

To enable the group editor policy on Windows 10 Home, follow these steps.

1. Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
2. Run the following command.

FOR %F IN ("%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package~*.mum") DO (
DISM /Online /NoRestart /Add-Package:"%F" )

3. Once the command has completed, run this second command.

FOR %F IN ("%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package~*.mum") DO (
DISM /Online /NoRestart /Add-Package:"%F" )

Open gpedit.msc on Windows 10 Home

Once the group policy editor has been installed, you can open it by following these steps.

1. Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box.
2. In the run box, enter gpedit.msc and tap the Enter key.
3. The group policy editor will open.

Group policy editor vs Registry editor

The Group policy editor and the registry editor manage the same or similar settings. In most cases, the changes that you apply in group policy editor will take effect however, not all policy changes may apply. This holds true for features that are not available on Windows 10 Home. These are few but if a setting doesn’t apply, check for the equivalent registry keys that you can edit to make the change.

Conclusion

The group policy editor is easier to use than the registry editor but change to it should still be made carefully. You can reverse them and the process is similarly easy to do but you should still be careful when making them. The group policy editor may give you a sense that the changes you’re making aren’t as impactful as those that you make in the registry editor but that isn’t true. 

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Fatima Wahab

Fatima has been writing for AddictiveTips for six years. She began as a junior writer and has been working as the Editor in Chief since 2014. Fatima gets an adrenaline rush from figuring out how technology works, and how to manipulate it. A well-designed app, something that solves a common everyday problem and looks

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