Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc (group policy) editing via registry
15th November 2007
It is possible to install gpedit.msc snap-in for MMC in Windows XP Home Edition. I found the list of necessary files on pagesperso-orange.fr (in French), which also had the archive of all the necessary (again, French) files and the installation batch-file.
Warning: you proceed at your own risk. If you do not know what you are doing – please don’t 
Download (original) French gpedit-pour-xp-home.zip.
Download English gpedit for windows xp home.zip (also in 7zip archive).
Here are instructions for manual MMC snap-in installation. Original French-version archive had a batch file which does installation automatically, which I also added to the English archive (gpedinst.bat). But you must manually verify that batch file fits your system before running it! It might be safer to follow the instructions manually.
- Put these files:
appmgmts.dll
appmgr.dll
fde.dll
fdeploy.dll
gpedit.msc
gpedit.dll
gptext.dllinto %SystemRoot%\system32 folder (most often it’s just c:\windows\system32)
- put these files:
system.adm
inetres.adm
conf.adminto %SystemRoot%\system32\GroupPolicy\ADM\ (create if this folder doesn’t exist)
- finally, run these commands one by one in the CMD window:
regsvr32 gpedit.dll
regsvr32 fde.dll
regsvr32 gptext.dll
regsvr32 appmgr.dll
regsvr32 fdeploy.dll
That should make gpedit.msc callable as Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc.
Other language versions of the necessary files can be retrieved from corresponding-language installations of WinXP Professional; English version can also be downloaded directly from Microsoft website ( e.g. here , or search for “Group Policy ADM Files” at microsoft.com). Also, you can extract necessary files from available Windows distributions: just don’t forget, that “filename.dl_” is a compressed version of “filename.dll”, and can be uncompressed by using XP-bundled extract command.
See also this comment for alternative gpedit installation (get the file from badongo first), and also this comment for one more explanation of manual installation.
Geeks corner:
- a comprehensive list of the “Group Policy/User Configuration/Administrative Templates” settings in Windows XP Home Edition
- an extremely comprehensive Excel sheet, which maps numerous *.adm-file options to their registry equivalents – Group Policy Settings Reference (PolicySettings.xls). This file is for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003
Disclaimer: I do not know if modifying (e.g. by adding gpedit) your WinXP HE is a violation of any EULAs. It’s your own responsibility to check this out and comply with any such regulations. Also, be advised that modifying any settings using gpedit.msc on WinXP HE may render some parts of the OS inoperable (in my opinion). You have been warned!
April 1st, 2008 at 19:15
[...] XP Home Edition user you might not have gpedit.msc in that case download and install it from Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc and then follow these [...]
May 6th, 2008 at 9:51
[...] XP Home Edition user you might not have gpedit.msc in that case download and install it from Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc and then follow these [...]
June 7th, 2008 at 8:22
i am sufferring from newfolder.exe and regsvr.exe please give me suggestion how to clean
June 7th, 2008 at 8:45
Uma,
you’ll need to search for the solution.
I’ve seen several solutions referring to this page, but this page itself is for the installation of Group Policy Editor in WinXP HE, not for fixing the “newfolder.exe” problem.
June 28th, 2008 at 8:12
I was looking for a way to enable gpedit.msc in XP Home because I want to help out a person suffering from Antivirus XP 2008 which screwed up the desktop settings. Will try this trick with gpedit files as suggested. Thanks for sharing!
July 6th, 2008 at 5:08
I got the info from this Chinese site, tried, and it worked: http://www.jpopforum.net/thread-239144-1-1.html. I backuped before trying that, though. Here is the download site from badongo: http://www.badongo.com/file/3600457. The README.TXT is in Chinese and I’m translating now. Will post later.
July 6th, 2008 at 5:23
Basically, the files you download from the above badongo site copy files from XP Pro to XP HOME. Here are the steps:
1. Download files from http://www.badongo.com/file/3600457.
2. You’ll see 15 files including gpedit.bat and README.TXT, etc. Double click the gpedit.bat. You’ll be prompted RegSvr32 saying xxx.dll worked/registered successfully (in Chinese), click OK. Then it’s done.
3. Go to START > RUN and type gpedit.msc and see.
For those who do not want to run this gpedit.bat, I suggest you do the following steps manually (get a XP Pro installation CD first).
************************************************
Translation of README.TXT
************************************************
This gpedit.bat does the following:
1. Copies these files : gpedit.msc、fde.dll、gpedit.dll、gptext.dll、wsecedit.dll from“C:\WINDOWS\system32”of XP
Professional to this directory of XP HOME:“C:\WINDOWS\system32”.
2. In START>RUN, run thiese commands:“regsvr32 fde.dll”,“regsvr32 gpedit.dll”,“regsvr32 gptext.dll”,“regsvr32 wsecedit.dll.
3. Replace *.adm of XP Professional from its“C:\WINDOWS\INF”to“C:\WINDOWS\INF” of HOME.
4. Lastly, in SRART>RUN, run “gpedit.msc”.
>>> Obtained info from http://www.jpopforum.net posted by ryan17172003 2007/11/11 <<< thanks.
ryan17172003
July 6th, 2008 at 7:39
yp_taiwan,
didn’t instructions in my post work for you?…
anyway, thanks for the additional source (and translation) for desperate WinXP HE owners
July 17th, 2008 at 0:41
I have successfully copied all of the necessary files but when I run regsrv32, the DllRegisterServer fails as below.
The only dll that registers is pgtext
appmgmnts – dll loaded but regservr entry point not found
appmgr, fde – error 0×800703fb
fdeploy, gpedit – error 0×80040201
Any clues?
July 17th, 2008 at 1:47
Tim,
“copied all” – from the install disk? if yes – did you first “extract” the dlls, or just renamed them (changing last underscore to “l”)?
other than that – maybe you already have those dlls on your system? I can’t lookup error descriptions for the error codes you provided – sorry, so it’s only my guesswork.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:23
[...] As I had already mentioned in my first newfolder.exe virus removal article you can download the french version of gpedit.msc from bogdan.org.ua. [...]
July 28th, 2008 at 15:37
i am havin vista home premium can it be installed in my PC, even my PC is suffering from antivirus XP 2008
July 31st, 2008 at 17:14
that work but not support with WIN HE.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:07
well…. i tried the manual way, and tried to batch file in chinese….however i continuously get the error message saying that
“the file does not exist, is not an MMC console, or was created by a later version of MMC. This may also be because you do not have sufficient rights to the file.”
i have sufficient rights, the file is there, and in the properties dialogue box of the gpedit.msc file it describes the file as being an MMC console file and i am using an Administrator account and even checked to make sure that the file was not read-only.
so as far as having an updated version of the gpedit.msc….i dunno….
August 20th, 2008 at 10:39
Kenny,
did you try opening that gpedit.msc directly via mmc? (that is, launch MMC, File->Open and find gpedit.msc).
Try to re-download that single gpedit.msc file, and check if you have latest updates to your WinXP HE.
August 20th, 2008 at 21:40
no, i did not try that.
but also, now i am having more problems.
now that i tried installing the gpedit for winxp he, now my search assistant has been damaged (or so it says), i cant play one of my favorite games, Gunz. It gives me a runtime error, saying that this application has requeswted the runtime terminate in an unusual way (im not sure if it is just the game or if the gpedit thing messed it up, but it happened after i tried instaling gpedit)
August 21st, 2008 at 3:33
eng version
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1219281958102+28353475&threadId=1154077
August 21st, 2008 at 5:12
i tried installing that version just now. ….it gives the same results.
i wouldnt mind just reversing all of this….but i had system restore turned off….and now i cant turn system restore back on because it keeps giving me errors….
August 30th, 2008 at 4:27
[...] if you’re unlucky enough to be using XP Home, you can just do this. Posted by spospi Filed in Useful things Tagged: gpedit, rants, tweakUI, Windows XP [...]
September 6th, 2008 at 18:32
that just redirected me to this page…. that was completely useless
September 7th, 2008 at 10:24
Kenny,
I strongly suspect that your problems are due to a malware/virus activities and not the gpedit.msc installation.
However, it is quite simple to reverse changes. Important: I didn’t try that! (consider this a disclaimer)
To “unregister” all the DLLs registered, do this:
regsvr32 /u gpedit.dll
regsvr32 /u fde.dll
regsvr32 /u gptext.dll
regsvr32 /u appmgr.dll
regsvr32 /u fdeploy.dll
After this, you can (optionally) remove
system.adm
inetres.adm
conf.adm
from %SystemRoot%\system32\GroupPolicy\Adm\
Finally, you might want to clean up your system (optionally) by removing
appmgmts.dll
appmgr.dll
fde.dll
fdeploy.dll
gpedit.msc
gpedit.dll
gptext.dll
from windows\system32 folder.
These steps effectively reverse the changes introduced by the gpedit.msc installation.
However, some of the removed files might be needed by the system, and if you delete them it might complain about missing files or just malfunction in some aspects. So make a backup and be sure you can use it.
Finally, I do not believe this will solve your problems – as I said at the beginning, it’s likely that malware/viruses found home on your PC.
September 11th, 2008 at 15:19
Bogdan,
thank you for your time in attempting to help me, however, i have already tried this. Also, i know for a fact that my computer is clean, as i monitor malware activity very closely with multiple programs and observances, so im not worried about malware at all.
unregistering the files and delting them did me no good.
In resolution, my game did end up begin working again after the makers made an update….so it could have been a problem on my part AND their part.
the only thing that is not working currently is the help assistant….which i use to clean my computer, but it isnt a huge problem, and i dont have a windows recovery disc, so i have given up on that. I need a new computer anyays, as everything is failing on it, and it would be more cost efficient to just buy a new one.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:45
newfolder.exe….solution…here>>>>
run>gpedit.msc
administrative templates > system >disable registry editing tool
^^^next…
run>msconfig
start up tab …..remove regsvr.exe>dont restart comp…
^^^next…
control panel..>Scheduled Tasks..>remove other than “add Scheduled Task”
^^^next…
search in your system…regsvr.exe and newfolder.exe..all folder.exe files…file size is nearly 603kb….delete all…
****dont delete other exe files…
****dont delete regsvr32.exe files…
^^^^^next….
search regsvr.exe in regedit….
delete all…
**** dont delete regsvr32.exe files…
***do yourown risk…this procedure have given good result to me….>>>
http://www.unlockgoogle.blogspot.com
September 23rd, 2008 at 18:22
I am trying to use the gpedit to tweak the bandwidth limits on XP Home. Any idea on how I can follow the menu tree below in the French version?
“Follow this path: Local Computer Policy>Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Network>QoS Packet Scheduler>Limit Reservable Bandwidth>. If it’s disabled or not configured, change the settings like the one below:”
Thanks for the help
September 23rd, 2008 at 23:46
Mark,
if you had given a link to a screenshot, I would try guessing
(my French knowledge is basic).
…or just try guessing yourself – that’s pretty easy, believe me – lots of common word parts.
…or grab English equivalents of the files you used, to get the texts “translated”.
October 1st, 2008 at 23:20
I tried the above instructions and it “worked”. Meaning I can open over the mmc the gpedit.msc and have all the adm Templates load. What’s not working is the “Richtlinienergenissatz” (Sorry for the German dont know how its called in English anymore) Where you can see which policies applies to the system. Anyway when you generate a report it comes up with a error message “illegal namespace” So that still does not work and also does not look promising that any Settings will have an effect on the OS. Thats just my five Cents on the Topic. Here is how I copied the files. Would love to hear from anyone that was able to configure anything with the gpedit.msc under XP Home.
I copied the files from another XP Pro and wrote a little batch file to make the process a little faster for other XP Home Computers. Here is the Batch file. You might have to change the Folder Path to represent your installation. And remember you will have to add any Backup needs yourself. Just a reminder! Now even though it works it might not give you the functionality you search for. Windows XP Home is a cripled Operating System and gpedit works with Templates (*.adm) Files. Meaning that even though its offered to configure under the newly added gpedit it does not mean your underlaying Operating system supports it. I was searching for Remote WMI Support which I guess is not available.
@echo offcopy gpedit.dll C:\WINDOWS\System32\gpedit.dll
copy fde.dll C:\WINDOWS\System32\fde.dll
copy gptext.dll C:\WINDOWS\System32\gptext.dll
copy appmgr.dll C:\WINDOWS\System32\appmgr.dll
copy fdeploy.dll C:\WINDOWS\System32\fdeploy.dll
pause
copy system.adm C:\windows\system32\GroupPolicy\Adm\system.adm
copy inetres.adm C:\windows\system32\GroupPolicy\Adm\inetres.adm
copy conf.adm C:\windows\system32\GroupPolicy\Adm\conf.adm
pause
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\System32\gpedit.dll
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\System32\fde.dll
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\System32\gptext.dll
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\System32\appmgr.dll
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\System32\fdeploy.dll
pause
October 1st, 2008 at 23:39
Swiss420,
thanks for the feedback.
I’ve included the original French batch file into English version – it does the same as yours.
November 14th, 2008 at 8:30
Sir:
WHEN I RUN GPEDIT IN MY RUN COMMOND THE COMMENT IS ACCESS IS DENIED I TRY UR STEP BUT THEN NOT HAPPEN,ITS ONLY THESAME THAT THE ACCESS DENIED..PLS HELP ME OR MAIL TO ME..jovskie2004@yahoo.com
thanks for immediately response..
January 21st, 2009 at 18:42
u’re such a genius. thanks 4 saving my life!!! i need gpedit badly
January 27th, 2009 at 1:52
ok i followed all the instructions for the gpedit.msc and it works but QOS packet schedule is missing what can i do to get that?
January 27th, 2009 at 2:11
Gary,
I cannot help with that, sorry.
It might be missing just because it is Home Edition and not Professional edition.
gpedit is only an interface to the registry – it does not add any functionality itself.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:17
ok thanks Bogdan
February 27th, 2009 at 18:00
It works great ! Thanks !!
March 13th, 2009 at 5:36
[...] XP Home Edition user you might not have gpedit.msc in that case download and install it from Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc and then follow these [...]
March 14th, 2009 at 19:52
[...] XP Home Edition user you might not have gpedit.msc in that case download and install it from Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc and then follow these [...]
March 24th, 2009 at 6:33
u rock
March 27th, 2009 at 15:46
hi all,
thx for sharing, i am newbie here and i’am very interested with posting in this website. i already tried the methods and it’s working very good, all the admin template loaded successfully to my xp home computer.
but the problem appears when i tries to set some user policy i.e no control panel or no display setting. i still seeing and accessing my control panel and my display setting after i set the user policy at gpedit.msc and reboot my computer.
what’s wrong???
pleazzzeeee help me out here.
thx
beberu
March 27th, 2009 at 19:09
@Gunawan – “gpedit is only an interface to the registry – it does not add any functionality itself”.
March 28th, 2009 at 2:35
is this mean that the policy setting for my xp home won’t change if i use gpedit.msc? i must directly change my registry?
please inform what should i do to add it’s functionality at my xp home computer?
March 28th, 2009 at 18:19
using registry won’t help if the required functionality is missing from XP HE.
Adding some functionality to HE from Pro should be possible, but I’m not a specialist in that. And that definitely violates the MS EULA
April 14th, 2009 at 15:45
I did what the article says but, as gunawan said, when I try to prohibit access to Control Panel I still see it. It looks like gpedit.msc for XP Home is useless (at least for me).
April 21st, 2009 at 16:31
DUDE ! THIS WORKED ! TNK YOU !!!!! I LOVE YOU MAN !
April 24th, 2009 at 14:41
worked great thanks!
May 7th, 2009 at 4:29
Thank You So Much!!!
This helped me a lot. Now I can finally have System Restore on my computer!
June 9th, 2009 at 22:02
When i type regsvr32 gpedit.dll
it says
Load library(”gpedit.dll”)failed- The specified module could not be found
I need help as soon as possibe
thank you
June 9th, 2009 at 22:47
Help is coming, hang on!
Do you run ‘regsvr32 gpedit.dll’ from the folder/path which actually has that file? (I mean ‘gpedit.dll’)
If not – first ‘cd’ into the directory which has that file, then run the command again.
If yes: get new ‘gpedit.dll’, it might have been corrupted during download.