How to access local group policy editor (gpedit.msc) in Windows10 home?

I use Win10 home build 15063.138 and when I go to the the Run program and do gpedit.msc to run local group policy editor, I get an error that this program wasn't found.

Also, when I type in the search local group policy editor, I don't found it.

When I went to "Turn Windows features on or off" just to check if I should turn on this feature, I didn't find it in a quick search.

Why isn't it available?

JohnDoea

Posted 2017-05-08T14:07:01.107

Reputation: 1 029

Although it is not available, there are guides on how to install it, but I found it to not work well. Also, the group policy settings can be accessed through the registry, but again, it may not work because the features are missing altogether in Home. – LPChip – 2017-05-08T14:13:18.860

This worked for me: https://www.itechtics.com/easily-enable-group-policy-editor-gpedit-msc-in-windows-10-home-edition/

– android developer – 2018-10-05T14:04:51.033

Answers

It is not available in the Home versions of Windows, and you need to have a Pro version of Windows, or above.

So, you'd have to make any changes directly in the registry.

Microsoft INTENTIONALLY left this out of the Home version, possibly for revenue reasons. If you intend to manage a PC using Group Policy or Active Directory, you can't manage these Home version PCs without paying to upgrade them to a Pro version, or above.

I'd like to hear from Microsoft's business division, to see if they care about other's providing workarounds to enable adding GPedit to Home editions. If there's not a revenue problem, then there are technical workarounds available.

Here's a link to a Superuser post to add GPedit: Windows Starter Edition, Home and Home Premium do not include gpedit, how do I install it? However, I've extracted all the files inside the downloaded EXE, and here's what I found:

There are a number of Windows files that I have not verified as safe or even if they were from a genuine copy of Windows
These Windows files are most certainly not the versions you'd want for every version of Windows.
The scripts contained appear to work and are likely safe, and you could simply modify them to do what is needed, instead of running their EXE to add GPedit. The scripts should be supplemented or modified however, with the instructions from the superuser link above.
There is an UNKNOWN INSTALLER.EXE file that I couldn't extract, so I have no idea what it is, or if it is safe. (I also have not submitted it to VirusTotal for analysis).

I used UniExtract as one of the tools to analyze the files.

DaaBoss

Posted 2017-05-08T14:07:01.107

Reputation: 1 931

Obviously features must be removed from lower level editions or there would only be one edition. And to maintain revenue the price on that edition would need to be higher than that for the Home edition. Of course there will be disagreements about which features should have been removed. The problem isn't just that Home editions do not have gpedit.msc, but that the infrastructure that supports it is missing. There are ways to add this but the results are not entirely satisfactory. Many but not all of it's settings are in the registry. – LMiller7 – 2017-05-08T19:46:21.753

Agree, or the settings you do make are ineffective or give a different result for that Windows version. Still, most all the settings would work, adding GPedit. All the raw information required is there to make a perfect one-click install, provided Microsoft would allow it. If requested, we might add that app, provided Microsoft allowed us to ship their files, and if it was OK to provide and add that to the home edition. We've modified Windows before by adding Snapshots, and MS paid us to do it. @Microsoft ?? – DaaBoss – 2017-05-09T13:09:28.223

It is not available in Windows 10 home, instead premium versions like Pro, Education and Enterprise

xavier_fakerat

Posted 2017-05-08T14:07:01.107

Reputation: 2 191

@LChip Thats not true, Windows Education even has more feature than Pro, I am using it right now, and it has all premium features like Hyper v – xavier_fakerat – 2017-05-08T14:13:20.523

Hmm indeed... Didn't know that. Tnx. +1 for teaching me something new. – LPChip – 2017-05-08T14:15:49.053