Policy Plus

Microsoft decided to remove some features from the Windows Home and Starter editions, and one of these features is the Group Policy Editor. Although there are solutions out there that try to bring back the gpedit.msc feature, a good alternative is Policy Plus.

The goal of Policy Plus is to provide access to modifying the group policy settings without requiring the Windows native gpedit.msc application on all Windows editions.

To use Policy Plus, you first have to download the necessary administrative template files, also known as the ADMX policy files. Thanks to an integrated downloader in the "Help" menu, Policy Plus can grab the required files directly from Microsoft, without too much effort on your part.

Aiming to provide a familiar environment, the interface and the layout of Policy Plus is very similar to that of the Group Policy Editor. All the major categories are displayed in the left panel in tree-view, whereas the right panel shows information about particular policy controllers, their description, and their current state.

Right-clicking on any policy setting reveals a menu that helps you edit it, or use the Element Inspector to check out the associated registry value and the affected registry keys. Additional details are also available.

Although you can browse the policy categories manually, keep in mind that Policy Plus also comes with a built-in search tool that can filter the results based on criteria such as the policy ID, a keyword, or a registry key,

Policy Plus can be used when the Group Policy Editor in Windows is not working or is missing. However, please note that a restart might be required for changes in the policies to take effect on some systems. Moreover, unlike the gpedit.msc application, Policy Plus cannot change policies for other users.

Please note that this application tampers with the Windows registry, so a system backup is highly advisable. Moreover, it should only be used by experienced users.