How to add Group Policy Editor to Windows 10 Home

Use this nifty trick to add the Group Policy Editor to further customize Windows 10 Home, and on Windows 10 Starter, Windows 7, or Windows 8.1.

By Mauro Huculak (@Pureinfotech) , Windows How-To Expert and IT Specialist with 21 years of experience.

September 22, 2016

2016-09-23T11:45:09-04:00

Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is a feature available only in certain versions of Windows, but there is a way to add it to Windows 10 Home. You probably may have come across many guides to customize Windows 10, but they often require you to use the Group Policy Editor to change settings.

The problem is that without the editor, you need to modify the registry instead, which is far more complicated. However, there is a way now for those using Windows 10 Home to add the Group Policy Editor to customize the operating system like a pro user.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to add Group Policy Editor to the home version of Windows 10.

Warning: This isn’t a supported method to add gpedit.msc to the home version of Windows 10. You’ll be using a third-party tool. Use it at your own risk.

How to get Group Policy Editor on Windows 10 Home

Download and unzip the add_gpedit_msc zip file containing all the components to add the Group Policy Editor to Windows 10 Home.
Open Settings.
Click on About and verify your system type (e.g., 32-bit or 64-bit).
Right-click the setup.exe file and select Run as administrator.
Click Next.
Click Install.
Click Finish to complete the task if you’re running Windows 10 Home 32-bit.

If you’re running the 64-bit version, continue with the steps below.

Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
Enter the following path and click OK.
```
C:\Windows\SysWOW64
```
Find GroupPolicy, GroupPolicyUsers, and gpedit.msc, right-click and select Copy.
Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
Enter the following path and click OK.
```
C:\Windows\System32
```
Right-click and select Paste to copy the files to the new location.

Once you completed the steps, open the Run command, type gpedit.msc, and click OK to open the Group Policy Editor.

If you come across the error “MMC could not create the snap-in”, it’s probably because your profile name contains more than one word. If this is the case, open the x64.bat and x86.bat files, located in C:\Windows\Temp\gpedit, and replace %username%:f with “%username%”:f.

Keep in mind that the editor wasn’t intended to be part of Windows 10 Home. This means that you may not have all the same options available for Windows 10 Pro and other versions.

This guide isn’t just limited to Windows 10 Home users, as it will also work with Windows 10 Starter, Windows 7, and Windows 8.1.