What is a Local Group Policy Editor?
Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is a built-in feature of the Windows operating system that enables administrator accounts to control what the other users are allowed to do on their machines.
Local Group Policy Editor consists of two main sections:
User Configuration Holds settings that are applied to users (at sign-in and during periodic background refresh),
Computer Configuration Holds settings applied to computers (at startup and during periodic background refresh).
It’s enabled by third-party Applications(gpedit.msc). This article will discuss several methods for opening the Local Group Policy Editor.
In which version of Windows can we find Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) function?
You will find gpedit.msc functionality on only these Windows operating systems:-
- Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise
- Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise
- Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise
- Windows 7 Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise
Access Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
The following are the easy and quick methods to access Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) on Windows PC:-
- Using Search button
- Via Taskbar Search (Windows 10 & 11 only)
- From the Settings app (Windows 10 & 11 only)
- Through Control Panel
- Using Desktop Shortcut
- By Pinning to the taskbar, Start Menu, or the Start screen
- Via Run dialog box
- Using Command Prompt
- Via PowerShell
- From Task Manager
- Using Windows Explorer (Windows 7) or File Explorer (Windows 8.1 Windows 10 and Windows 11)
- From System32 Folder
Launch Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) using the Search button
Step 1. Click on the
Step 2. Click on the top entry “Edit group policy” to open the available search results.
How to Open Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) using the Taskbar Search?
Windows 10/11 comes with a Taskbar Search. If you have not removed it from the Windows 10 Taskbar, you can use this search also to access Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).
Step 1. Click on
Step 2. In the available search results, click on either “gpedit.msc” or” Edit group policy” to open it.
How to Access Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) via Settings app?
Step 1. Open the Setting App by pressing
Step 2. In the search box of the Settings app, type
How to Start Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) from Control Panel?
Step 1. Open the Control Panel.
Step 2. In the Control Panel search box, type
Step 3. Click the link “Edit group policy” to open it.
Start Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) using Desktop Shortcut
Step 1. Right-click on the free space on the desktop, select the
Step 2. In location box type
Step 3. Click
Step 4. Type a helpful name of the shortcut icon that you can remember.
Step 5. Click
After that, you can access the Local Group Policy Editor by double-clicking its shortcut icon.
Launch Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) by Pinning it to the taskbar, Start Menu, or the Start screen.
It would help if you created a shortcut to Pin the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). You can refer above steps to create a shortcut icon of Group Policy. Once you have created a shortcut for the Group Policy, right-click on it and select “Pin to Start” or “Pin to taskbar” or both options.
After that, you can access Group Policy from the Start menu or Windows 10 Taskbar.
How to Open Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) using Run?
Step 1. Press
Step 2. In the Run dialog box, type
How to Access Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) from Command Prompt?
You can also open Group Policy using the Command Prompt. Perform the following steps to do so:-
Step 1. Open the Command Prompt.
Step 2. In the Command Prompt window, type the
How to Access Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) from Windows PowerShell?
Step 1. Open Windows PowerShell.
Step 2. In the Windows PowerShell, type
How to Get Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) from Task Manager?
Step 1. Press
Step 2. Click on the
Step 3. On the dialog box that appears, type
How to Open Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) from File Explorer or Windows Explorer?
Step 1. Press
Step 2. Type
Launch Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) from System32 Folder.
Browse to the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Scroll down to see gpedit.msc application. Double-click on it to open the Local Group Policy Editor window.
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