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How to clear the local workstations Group Policy cache

· One min read

Option 1​

  1. Open My Computer/Computer
  2. In the URL or address bar paste: %windir%\system32\GroupPolicy
  3. Right click and delete the: Machine and User folders to clear local group policy cache
  4. Restart the computer to reapply the group policies

Note: You can also run: gpupdate /force on the machine to force the policy to reapply.

You can also run the little PowerShell oneliner as Administrator to remove the Group Policy folder and all files below:

#requires -Version 1.0
#Requires -RunAsAdministrator

Remove-Item "$env:windir\system32\GroupPolicy" -Force -Recurse

Option 2​

  1. Delete the “HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft Key (looks like a folder).
  2. Delete the “HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft Key
  3. Delete the “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects Key.
  4. Delete the “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies Key.

Option 3​

  1. Remove the computer from the domain (change to a Workgroup)
  2. Restart computer
  3. Run gpupdate /force
  4. Rejoin the domain