How to Reset Group Policy Settings to Default

I recently came across an issue that I had to diagnose where I needed to reset a device’s Group Policy settings. It wasn’t the easiest thing to find how to do, so I thought I would document it here in full step-by-step dummies guide method in case I need it in the future again.

Group Policy Settings

Here are the correct steps to reset Group Policy settings to default:

Open the Command Prompt as an administrator.

Type the following command and press Enter:

"RD /S /Q "%WinDir%System32GroupPolicy"

Type the following command and press Enter:

"RD /S /Q "%WinDir%System32GroupPolicyUsers"

Type the following command and press Enter:

"gpupdate /force"

These steps will remove any custom Group Policy settings and restore the default settings. Please note that resetting Group Policy settings to default may affect system behavior and security, so proceed with caution and make sure you have a backup before proceeding.

Local Group Policy Settings

These commands will reset all local group policy settings in the Computer Configuration and User Configuration sections.

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%infdefltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

Then reboot the device. When it comes back up again, run the following command:

ren %windir%securitydatabaseedb.chk edb_old.chk

Then run this command and press Enter:

Gpupdate /Force

Reboot the device again and you should be clear of all local policies set.

About The Author

Andrew Armstrong

Andrew Armstrong is a UK-based IT professional with 26+ years of hands-on experience in Windows, Windows Server, SCCM/ConfigMgr, Active Directory, PowerShell, and enterprise infrastructure. He founded TechyGeeksHome in 2010 and has published over 1,500 practical guides covering real-world IT problems and solutions. When not solving IT problems, Andrew develops free Windows utilities including Ultimate Settings Panel, which has been downloaded over 850,000 times.

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