Updating an outdated ADMX central store after Windows server upgrade

Question

How can we safely update an outdated ADMX Central Store causing "Unable to display all settings" warnings after upgrading some domain controllers?

Answer 1

Hi Veli Doken,

To help address the "Unable to display all settings" warning, please first verify whether GPMC is using a Central Store or the local PolicyDefinitions folder.

In GPMC, navigate to:

• Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates

At the top of the Administrative Templates node, you should see either:

• Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the central store
• Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the local computer

You can download the ADMX/ADML files for your preferred version from the link below:

• How to create and manage the Central Store for Group Policy Administrative Templates in Windows
• Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows Server 2025

Then please follow the applicable steps below.

A. If GPMC is using the Central Store

1. Navigate to the Central Store location:
   1. \\<domain>\SYSVOL\<domain>\Policies\PolicyDefinitions
2. Create a backup by copying the entire PolicyDefinitions folder to another location.
3. Download the latest Administrative Templates (ADMX) package from Microsoft.
4. Extract the downloaded package.
5. Open the extracted PolicyDefinitions folder.
6. Copy all contents, including the .ADMX files and the corresponding language .ADML folder(s) (for example, en-US), into the existing Central Store PolicyDefinitions folder and replace the older files when prompted.
7. Allow time for SYSVOL replication to complete across all domain controllers.
8. Reopen GPMC and verify whether the warning persists.

B. If GPMC is using the Local Computer Store

1. Navigate to:
   1. C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
2. Create a backup by copying the entire PolicyDefinitions folder to another location.
3. Download the latest Administrative Templates (ADMX) package from Microsoft.
4. Extract the downloaded package.
5. Open the extracted PolicyDefinitions folder.
6. Copy all contents, including the ADMX files and the corresponding language folder(s) (for example, en-US), into:
   1. C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
7. Then replace the older files when prompted.
8. Reopen GPMC, then verify whether the warning has been resolved.

==========================

We hope these steps help resolve the issue. If this helps resolve your problem, please consider hitting "Accept Answer" so other users facing this failure can easily find the solution!