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Update the ADMX Templates in Windows Server to Apply GPO to Windows 10

Updating the ADMX Templates in Windows Server to Apply GPO to Windows 10 is a manual process. A Windows Server can control Windows client computers through Group Policy/Group Policy Objects (GP/GPO). It does this through template files called ADMX files. These ADMX files simply correspond to registry-edits (regedits).

Since not all regedits are available on OS versions (for example, controlling OneDrive was included along the way), there is a set of ADMX files for common milestones like:

  • -Windows 7
  • -Windows 7 SP1
  • -Windows 8
  • -Windows 8.1
  • -Windows 10
  • -Windows 10 (1511)
  • -Windows 10 (1607) Anniversary Update

The ADMX files are not automatically updated on the Windows Server. They must be manually updated. The updates are in MSI files (and not zipped files). The instructions are pretty simple once someone shows you:

  • -download the ADMX msi.
  • -install the ADMX msi. This will unpack the ADMX files in a folder called "Policy Definitions" in the c:\program files (x86) but you can change the location to another.
  • -copy the entire contents to: C:\Windows\SYSVOL\sysvol\domain-name\Policies\PolicyDefinitions\

You can find the ADMX files here:

-Windows 10 (1511)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48257

-Windows 10 (1607) Anniversary Update
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53430

-Windows 10 (1703)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55080

-Windows 10 (1709)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56121

-Windows 10 (1803)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56880

-Windows 10 (20H2)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/102157

-Windows 10 (21H1)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/103124

-Windows 10 (21H2)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/103667

-Windows 10 (22H1) (aka 21H2 v2)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/104042

-Windows 10 (22H2)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/104677

Or in any Windows 10 client:
C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions

Be careful taking the ones installed in a client OS and putting them on a Domain controller that manages multiple OS's. It can be dangerous because they often can have different settings, different ADMX names and can be missing settings for supporting previous versions of the OS.

This video explains it better than I can:

NOTES:

  • adm files are older.
  • admx files are newer.
  • adml files are xml translation/localization files.

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