Please help me find my missing 2012r2 Group policies - Primary School

[edutech4schools]

Hi, I have just gone to edit a GP on our 2012R2 DC and although the GP is listed when I try to edit it to make a change the path is not listed and it seems to be missing from the edit gp section.

 

The path to edit the gp is - User/policies/Admin Templates/extra Registry Settings. Not sure why it lists then as extra registry settings as they were created using standard group policies on our old 2008r2 DC.

 

When I try to find these policies in group policy editor I get the following displayed

 

if I click on All Settings from image above I just get a list of Google Chrome settings.

 

 

If I highlight the GP in the setting box on the right it says - Display names for some settings cannot be found. You might be able to resolve this issue by updating the .ADM files used by Group Policy Management.

 

 

 

If I browse to C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions I see the following

 

 

If I browse to C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\domain\Policies

 

 

and if I browse C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions

 

Both the en-GB and en-US folder that are in C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions only contain chrome.adml

 

I hope I have given enough info for someone to help but if not please ask.

Any advice and simple instructions would be very welcomed.

 

(Also cant edit spelling issue in title)

Edited September 13, 2016 by edutech4schools

[HPlum78]

yeah because you have the Policy Definitions in sysvol when you load GPMC it looks in that store not to the local servers C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions dir. So as you are seeing its just giving you the chrome settings. Copy the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions from a server /client (including the local(s)) folder and reload gpmc and they will appear, or copy the stuff out of the policy definitions folder in sysvol to you gpmc client C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions get rid of the policy definitions folder and reload gpmc on your client and they will appear.

 

Look here for a better guide! https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3087759

Edited September 13, 2016 by HPlum78
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[edutech4schools]

@HPlum78 Thanks.

 

I think I understand but need a little hand holding on this. So for our domain controller which method of the 2 you mentioned above would be the correct way of fixing this? All our clients are domain joined and get their gpo's from our single DC. I assume both the server and clients all need to see the same files in the same place.

[HPlum78]

Well yes and no, the central store method of storing your needed .adm/.admx files is a good way of being able to use a consistent set of policies for any client server or workstation to edit GPO's as no matter where you load GPMC up from it will always pull the policies from that central store. When you create a policy that requires a certain .adm/ .admx file you will see in the file-based part of the policy e.g. \\yourdomain\sysvol\yourdomainname\Policies\someGUID\ADM dir it will have a copy of the .adm/ .admx file there and that's what your clients will use to apply these settings, so they don't really care about the .amd/ .admx files.

[edutech4schools]

Thanks. I hate making changes on our DC and will need to double check everything with you before I do it.

 

So should I simply copy all the files in C:\Windows\PolicyDefinition to C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions?

 

Or is there more to it than that?

[HPlum78]

what desktop OS(s) are you using?

[edutech4schools]

Its a mix of Windows 7, 8.1 and 10.

[HPlum78]

And just to help with this I have dug up this https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb530196.aspx it goes through the process step-by-step and you can download the win 10 admx/ADML MSI from here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48257 and the Server 2012 and win 8.1 are available at the bottom of that page under additional resources. if you need anymore info let me know.

[edutech4schools]

OK read the info and it does make sense.

 

I have just tried to download the Win 10 admx/adml msi but it gives me 2 downloads to choose from.

1 - Windows10_Version_1511_ADMX.msi

2 - Windows10-ADMX.msi

 

Any idea which I should download?

 

Should I also download the server2012r2 and windows 8.1 msi's or will the Windows 10 msi contain everything?

[HPlum78]

Win10 and its a good question looks like it should be the 1511 as its got a later creation date, and yeah I would also get the 2012r2 and 8.1 ones as well and then copy them with the 2012r2/8.1 first and then copy over the win 10 ones any that have been updated changed in win 10 will then be the latest available in your environment.

[edutech4schools]

OK. I have installed the 8.1 & server 2012r2 MSI. I take it I copy the folder that was installed over to my server and place them in C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions

 

Just checking before I commit.

[HPlum78]

yeah and then reload gpmc.msc and if its worked correctly you should see them (wait for replication to happen!)

[edutech4schools]

All working :0)

 

I did have an issue after copying the policies,

 

I got an error about winstoreui conflicting with a similar file while I was in Group policy editor. A bit of Googling found MS have changed a few policy names with the Windows 10 1511 policies. Advice was to remove winstoreui from the policies folder.

@HPlum78 Many thanks for taking your time out to help me fix this issue and also teach me a few things.

[HPlum78]

No trouble and good spot on the winstoreui issue.