Administrative Templates Gone?

[GRitchie]

Not sure if anyone has had this before, but the entirety of 'Administrative Templates' seems to be wrong when editing/creating GPO's.

What we have at the minute is the following:

 

Any ideas how to bring back the other policies?

[TechMonkey]

My first guest is that they have been removed from the central store. Can you check they are there (or not) & then check backups to see when they disappeared?

[GRitchie]

My first guest is that they have been removed from the central store. Can you check they are there (or not) & then check backups to see when they disappeared?

 

Where would I check for this sorry?

[Chuckster]

Retrieve them from backups?

 

They're located in \\servername\sysvol\school.internal\Policies\PolicyDefinitions

 

If it's empty you can simply repopulate it with ADMX files that can be downloaded from the MS website.

Download Administrative Templates (ADMX) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 from Official Microsoft Download Center

[GRitchie]

So, the installer didn't work.

 

I've checked the backups, and upon going into SYSVOL in Windows, there is no 'PolicyDefinitions' folder?

[TechMonkey]

If you have no idea about the central store then you possibly never had one. It is something you have to start. I have no idea where your previous GPOs will have gone or why it has suddenly changed.

 

You can copy them from the server.

 

Here is the tech article How to create the Central Store for Group Policy Administrative Template files in Windows Vista

[3s-gtech]

They'll work from C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions from the server that you're using, but if you put in a second DC or use RSAT, for example, you'll want to have a Central Store set up (it's a good idea anyway).

 

Have you demoted any old DCs recently?

[Michael]

The other possibility is a corrupt SYSVOL, which would be a more serious issue. If you try connecting to different DCs via MMC, do they all have the same problems?

 

By logic, even if you removed the central store, it would just return back to the standard templates 2008 R2 ships with.

 

I'd have a look at the event logs for any clues.

[sted]

is it on all policies or just some as I think you can remove templates you don't need to make policies smaller (you definitely could with 2003 not sure the option was retained with 08 but I suspect if its just on a few old policies it might show the default templates as missing)

[GRitchie]

They'll work from C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions from the server that you're using, but if you put in a second DC or use RSAT, for example, you'll want to have a Central Store set up (it's a good idea anyway).

 

Have you demoted any old DCs recently?

 

Nope, no DCs have been demoted.

We have 2 DCs, one of which is in RSAT.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

The other possibility is a corrupt SYSVOL, which would be a more serious issue. If you try connecting to different DCs via MMC, do they all have the same problems?

 

By logic, even if you removed the central store, it would just return back to the standard templates 2008 R2 ships with.

 

I'd have a look at the event logs for any clues.

 

Yes. I can't get these templates on either DC.

Nothing seems obvious in the event logger either.

[Michael]

So if you download the Windows 8.1 template files and re-create the central store, does everything return back to normal? I can't see it doing any harm!

[GRitchie]

So if you download the Windows 8.1 template files and re-create the central store, does everything return back to normal? I can't see it doing any harm!

Without sounding like a complete idiot, I'm not entirely sure how to do this?

[Michael]

Without sounding like a complete idiot, I'm not entirely sure how to do this?

 

It's no problem - download and run the Windows 8.1 templates here

 

It'll appear in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Group Policy\Windows 8.1-Windows Server 2012 R2\PolicyDefinitions

 

Open the Policy Definitions folder and delete all folders, other than en-us.

 

Now copy the PolicyDefinitions folder to \\School_FDQN\SYSVOL\School_FQDN\Policies

 

The template files will now replicate to all DCs within minutes - hopefully this'll restore your Group Policy functionality.