If you consider yourself a Windows power user, then you are most likely used to tweaking the way Windows functions and even how it looks. Depending on your version of Windows, you will have certain tools you can use to modify settings and features. If you are on Windows 10 or Windows 11 Pro or higher, you can use the Group Policy Editor to make system changes to your PC.
The Group Policy Editor in Windows is a configuration tool that lets you to fine tune how the operating system behaves for users and computers. It provides a structured interface to enforce rules, like disabling access to certain apps, customizing login behavior, or setting security policies without needing to edit the registry manually. It’s especially useful in business or school environments where consistent settings across multiple machines are essential.
If you are running Windows Home edition and want to use this tool, you are normally out of luck since it’s not included in Windows Home by default. But in this article, we will be showing you 2 ways to edit Group Policy settings in Windows Home edition.
Method 1 – Enable the Group Policy Tool in Windows Home
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Even though the Group Policy Editor is not technically available for Windows Home edition, you can still enable so you can use it with this edition.
There is a batch file that you can run on your computer that will enable the Windows Group Policy Editor on Windows Home. You can download this batch file here. The file name will be Gpedit-Enabler-for-Windows-11.bat and the text below shows the contents of this batch file.
@echo off
>nul 2>&1 “%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\cacls.exe” “%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\system”
REM –> If error flag set, we do not have admin.
if ‘%errorlevel%’ NEQ ‘0’ (
echo Requesting administrative privileges…
goto UACPrompt
) else ( goto gotAdmin )
:UACPrompt
echo Set UAC = CreateObject^(“Shell.Application”^) > “%temp%\getadmin.vbs”
echo UAC.ShellExecute “%~s0”, “”, “”, “runas”, 1 >> “%temp%\getadmin.vbs”
“%temp%\getadmin.vbs”
exit /B
:gotAdmin
if exist “%temp%\getadmin.vbs” ( del “%temp%\getadmin.vbs” )
pushd “%CD%”
CD /D “%~dp0”
pushd “%~dp0”
dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package~3*.mum >List.txt
dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package~3*.mum >>List.txt
for /f %%i in (‘findstr /i . List.txt 2^>nul’) do dism /online /norestart /add-package:”%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\%%i”
pause
To apply the settings from the batch file, you will need to right click on it and choose Run as administrator. You will then receive a UAC prompt and will need to click the Yes button to continue. You will need to have administrative rights on the computer or have the credentials for an admin account to run this file.
You will then see a command prompt window open and will be able to see all the individual components being installed.
When the process is complete, you can type in gpedit.msc in the taskbar search box to find the Group Policy Editor tool so you can then run it.
Once its running, you will see the typical Group Policy Editor interface with all the individual categories.
Once you find the setting you want to change, simply double click it and enable or disable it as needed.
Method 2 – Use a Third Party Group Policy Management App
If you do not want to enable the Windows Group Policy Editor on your Windows Home computer, then you can try a third party tool called Policy Plus to give you a similar tool that you can use to manage policies on your computer. You can download the PolicyPlus.exe file here.
Once you double click the PolicyPlus.exe file, you will be presented with a UAC window where you will need to click the Yes button to continue. This tool also requires admin access to run.
The Policy Plus app will then open and you can see that you have similar categories to the actual Windows Group Policy Editor tool but its not organized quite the same.
Once you find the setting you want to change, you can double click it, and you will see that the interface is similar to the actual Group Policy Editor tool.
It is also possible to enable the Local Security Policy Editor on Windows Home editions if needed.
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