Some Group Policy areas are missing from the Group Policy Editor

Last updated on Mar 28, 2017

SUMMARY

When you open the Group Policy Editor MMC snap-in tool, focused either on a local GPO or AD-based one, some Group Policy areas that are expected to appear may not be found.

SYMPTOMS

Some policy areas are missing when you open up the Group Policy editor. These missing policy areas are different than the ones that are normally missing when you’re focused on a local GPO.

CAUSE

Each area of policy functionality is implemented by an MMC snap-in DLL that is registered by default on a standard Windows 2000, 2003 or XP installation. Occasionally those DLLs can be un-registered or removed and when that happens, the underlying group policy editing functionality they implement will not appear in the Group Policy editor UI.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, re-register the appropriate MMC snap-in DLL that implements the missing functionality by issuing the following command at a Windows command prompt

regsvr32 <snap-in DLL name>

By default, all of the Group Policy related MMC snap-in DLLs can be found in %systemroot%\system32

The following lists the default Group Policy snap-in DLLs that you can re-register:

Administrative Templates and Scripts: gptext.dll
Folder Redirection: fde.dll
Internet Explorer Maintenance: ieaksie.dll
IP Security: ipsecsnp.dll
Public Key and Software Restriction: certmgr.dll
Remote Installation Services: rigpsnap.dll
Security: wsecedit.dll
Software Installation: appmgr.dll

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