Reset Group Policy Settings in Windows: Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Resetting Group Policy Settings in Windows: A Comprehensive Guide

Group Policy settings are crucial for configuring system and user settings in Windows, but sometimes modifications can lead to unwanted behavior. Resetting these settings to their default state can resolve many issues without the need for a full system reinstall. Here’s how you can reset Group Policy settings in the latest versions of Windows.

Using the Local Group Policy Editor

Step-by-Step Guide to Reset via Local Group Policy Editor

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor:

   • Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
   • Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. Navigate to Computer Configuration:

   • In the Group Policy Editor window, navigate to:

     Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > All Settings
     

   • Click the State column header to sort the policy settings by their state.

3. Reset Policies:

• Find the policies that are currently Enabled or Disabled and double-click each one.
• Select the Not Configured option and click Apply followed by OK.

4. Repeat for User Configuration:

   • Navigate to:

     Local Computer Policy > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > All Settings
     

   • Repeat the process of resetting policies to Not Configured.

5. Apply Changes:

   • To make the changes take effect, either restart your computer or open an elevated Command Prompt and type:

     gpupdate /force
     

   • Press Enter to execute the command.

Using Command Prompt

Resetting Group Policy Settings via Command Prompt

If you prefer a quicker method or have many modified settings, you can use Command Prompt to reset all Group Policy settings.

1. Open Elevated Command Prompt:

   • Click Start, type cmd, right-click the Command Prompt app, and select Run as administrator.

2. Delete Group Policy Folders:

   • Type the following commands one by one and press Enter after each:

     RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
     RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
     

     These commands will delete the folders containing the Group Policy settings.

3. Update Group Policy Settings:

• Type the following command and press Enter:

  gpupdate /force
  

  This command updates the Group Policy settings to their default values.

4. Restart Your Computer:
   • Optionally, restart your computer to ensure the changes take effect immediately.

Resetting Local Security Policies

Restoring Default Local Security Policies

If issues are related to security settings, you may need to reset the local security policies.

1. Open Elevated Command Prompt:

   • Click Start, type cmd, right-click the Command Prompt app, and select Run as administrator.

2. Reset Security Policies:

   • Type the following command and press Enter:

     secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose
     

     This command resets the local security policies to their default values.

3. Restart Your Computer:

• Restart your computer to apply the changes.

Additional Tips

• Backup Before Changes: Always create a system restore point or backup your system before making significant changes to Group Policy settings.
• Avoid Manual Edits: It is not recommended to manually edit the Registry.pol files or use older versions of the Group Policy Editor. Instead, use the Group Policy Editor console to make changes.
• Domain Policies: If your computer is part of an Active Directory domain, these methods will only reset local Group Policy settings and not affect domain policies.

By following these steps, you can effectively reset Group Policy settings to their default state, resolving many common issues without needing to reinstall Windows.