Windows 11/10 has multiple ways to save configuration and settings. The Registry and Group Policy are two popular ways, and they are complementary to each other. If you change a setting in Group Policy, Windows will automatically make changes in the Registry.
Compared to the Windows Registry, Group Policy is easy to change as you don’t have to create anything. However, it isn’t easy to find them. So, if you are geeky enough, in this post, we will share a simple command that can help you instantly figure it out.
Group Policy Registry Location in Windows 11/10
You can use any of these methods to find the Registry key for a Group Policy setting. Group Policy to Registry Mapping has been discussed in this post.
- Group Policy Search (GPS) service
- Group Policy Settings Reference Guide
- MSDN
- Get-GPRegistryValue
Before we go ahead, be aware that not every Group Policy is available in Registry. Some of the settings are stored in a different place. So you will only find those which are mapped to the Registry.
1] Group Policy Search (GPS) service
Use the Group Policy Search (GPS) service, which allows you to search for registry-based Group Policy settings used in Windows operating systems. Once you open the website, you can search or expand each of them to find Group Policy Settings, Key, Value, and ADMX files.
2] Group Policy Settings Reference Guide
You can download an excel sheet from Microsoft—Group Policy Settings Reference Guide, which lists policy settings corresponding to the registry key.
Related: Group Policy Settings Reference Spreadsheet & ADMX Templates for Windows 11.
3] MSDN – GPO to Registry Mapping
Microsoft has published a table—Group Policy Registry Table—which offers one to one GPO to Registry Mapping. All you need do is search for the registry path, and it will reveal the exact Group Policy Object. Visit this MSDN link.
4] Get-GPRegistryValue
Its a command that you can execute on PowerShell. It gets one or more registry-based policy settings under either Computer Configuration or User Configuration in a GPO. This is how the command looks like:
| Get-GPRegistryValue -Guid <Guid> -Key <String> [-ValueName <String>] [-Domain <String>] [-Server <String>] [<CommonParameters>] |
Get-GPRegistryValue [-Name] <String> -Key <String> [-ValueName <String>] [-Domain <String>] [-Server <String>] [<CommonParameters>] |
It is fairly easy to use but only if you can understand how to use it. Here is a sample from Microsoft Document, which explains more on the official page.
Get-GPRegistryValue -Name TestGPO -Key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\ExampleKey" -ValueName "ValueOne" KeyPath : Software\Policies\Microsoft\ExampleKey FullKeyPath : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\ExampleKey Hive : CurrentUser PolicyState : Set Value : TestGPO Type : String ValueName : ValueOne HasValue : True
I hope the post was easy to follow, and you are now able to find the Registry key corresponding to Group Policy and vice versa.
I wish there were a tool from Microsoft for admins, which would have made it easier, but yes, then there are Excel sheets getting that job done.