How to create and manage the Central Store for Group Policy Administrative Templates in Windows
This article describes how to use the new .admx and .adml files to create and administer registrybased
policysettings in Windows. This article also explains how the Central Store is used to store and to
replicate Windows-based policy files in a domain environment.
Applies to: Windows 10 - all editions, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 7 Service
Pack 1
Original KB number: 3087759
Links to download the Administrative Templates files based on the operating system version:
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 May 2021 Update (21H1)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 October 2020 Update (20H2) - v2.0
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 May 2020 Update (2004)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 November 2019 Update (1909)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10, version 1803 (April 2018 Update)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10, version 1709 (Fall Creators Update)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10, version 1703 (Creators Update)
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10, version 1607 and Windows Server 2016
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 and Windows 10, version 1511
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 8.1 Update and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2
To view ADMX spreadsheets of the new settings that are available in later operating system versions, see
Group Policy Settings Reference Spreadsheet for Windows 10 May 2021 Update (21H1).
OVERVIEW
Administrative Templates files are divided into .admx files and language-specific .adml files for use
by Group Policy administrators. The changes that are implemented in these files let administrators
configure the same set of policies by using two languages. Administrators can configure policies by using
the language-specific .adml files and the language-neutral .admx files.
ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES FILE STORAGE
Windows uses a Central Store to store Administrative Templates files. The ADM folder is not created in
a Group Policy Object (GPO) as it is done in earlier versions of Windows. Therefore, Windows domain
controllers do not store or replicate redundant copies of .adm files.
THE CENTRAL STORE
To take advantage of the benefits of .admx files, you must create a Central Store in the sysvol folder on a
Windows domain controller. The Central Store is a file location that is checked by the Group Policy tools
by default. The Group Policy tools use all .admx files that are in the Central Store. The files that are in the
Central Store are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain.
We suggest keeping a repository of any ADMX/L files that you have for applications that you may want
to use. For example, operating system extensions like Microsoft Desktop optimization Pack (MDOP),
Microsoft Office, and also third-party applications that offer Group Policy support.
To create a Central Store for .admx and .adml files, create a new folder named PolicyDefinitions in the
following location (for example) on the domain controller:
\\contoso.com\SYSVOL\contoso.com\policies\PolicyDefinitions
When you already have such a folder that has a previously built Central Store, use a new folder
describing thecurrent version such as:
\\contoso.com\SYSVOL\contoso.com\policies\PolicyDefinitions-1803
Copy all files from the PolicyDefinitions folder on a source computer to the new
PolicyDefinitions folder on the domain controller. The source location can be either of the
following ones:
• The C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions folder on a Windows 8.1-based or Windows 10-based
client computer
• The C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Group Policy\<version-specific>\PolicyDefinitions
folder, if you have downloaded any of the Administrative Templates separately from the
links above.
The PolicyDefinitions folder on the Windows domain controller stores all .admx files and .adml
files for all languages that are enabled on the client computer.
The .adml files are stored in a language-specific folder. For example, English (United States)
.adml files are stored in a folder that is named en-US, Korean .adml files are stored in a folder
that is named ko_KR , and so on.
If .adml files for additional languages are required, you must copy the folder that contains the
.adml files for that language to the Central Store. When you have copied all .admx and .adml
files, the PolicyDefinitions folder on the domain controller should contain the .admx files and
one or more folders that contain language-specific .adml files.
NOTE: When you copy the .admx and .adml files from a Windows 8.1-based or Windows
10-based computer, verify that the most recent updates to these files are installed. Also,
make sure that the most recent Administrative Templates files are replicated. This advice
also applies to service packs, as applicable.
When the operating system collection is completed, merge any OS extension or application
ADMX/ADML files into the new PolicyDefinitions folder.
When this is finished, rename the current PolicyDefinitions folder to reflect that it’s the
previous version, such as PolicyDefinitions-1709. Then, rename the new folder (such as
PolicyDefinitions-1803) to the production name.
We suggest this approach as you can revert to the old folder in case you experience a severe
problem with the new set of files. When you don’t experience any problems with the new set
of files, you can move the older PolicyDefinitions folder to an archive location outside
sysvol folder.
GROUP POLICY ADMINISTRATION
Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 do not include Administrative Templates that have an .adm
extension. We recommend that you use computers that are running Windows 8.1 or later
versions of Windows to perform Group Policy administration
UPDATING THE ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES FILES
In Group Policy for Windows Vista and later version of Windows, if you change Administrative
Templates policy settings on local computers, sysvol folder isn’t automatically updated to
include the new .admx or .adml files. This behavior is implemented to reduce network load
and disk storage requirements, and to prevent conflicts between .admx and .adml files when
changes are made to Administrative Templates policy settings across different locations.
To ensure that any local updates are reflected in sysvol folder, you must manually copy the
updated .admx or .adml files from the PolicyDefinitions file on the local computer to the
Sysvol\PolicyDefinitions folder on the appropriate domain controller.
The following update enables you to configure the Local Group Policy editor to use Local
.admx files instead of the Central Store:
An update is available to enable the use of Local ADMX files for Group Policy Editor.
You can also use this setting to:
• Test a newly built folder as C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions on an Administrative
Workstation against your Domain Policies, before you copy it to the Central Store on
sysvol folder.
• Use older PolicyDefinitions folder to edit policy settings that don’t have an ADMX file in
the latest build of your Central Store. One common example would be policies that have
settings for older versions of Microsoft Office that are still in the Group Policies. Microsoft
Office has a separate set of ADMX/L files for each release.
KNOWN ISSUES
Issue 1
After you copy the Windows 10 .admx templates to the sysvol folder Central Store and
overwrite all existing .admx and .adml files, select the Policies node under Computer
Configuration or User Configuration. In this situation, you may receive the following error
message:
Namespace ‘Microsoft.Policies.Sensors.WindowsLocationProvider’ is already defined as the target
namespace for another file in the store.
File
\\<forest.root>\SysVol<forest.root>\Policies\PolicyDefinitions\Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-
WLPAdm.admx, line 5, column 110
NOTE: In the path in this message, <forest.root> represents the domain name.
To resolve this problem, see “’Microsoft.Policies.Sensors.WindowsLocationProvider’ is
already defined” error when you edit a policy in Windows.
Issue 2
Updated ADMX/L files for Windows 10 version 1803 contain only SearchOCR.ADML. It is not
compatible with an older release of SearchOCR.ADMX that you still have in the Central Store.
For more information about the problem, see “Resource ‘$(string ID=Win7Only)’ referenced in
attribute displayName could not be found” error when you open gpedit.msc in Windows.
Both issues can be avoided by building a pristine PolicyDefinitions folder from a base OS
release folder as described above.