How to create a Group Policy Central Store

Scenario

You have downloaded or created your own Group Policy Administrative Templates, and would like them to be stored centrally, opposed to individually on each Domain Controller.

Here’s how to create a Group Policy Central Store:

Solution

  1. Open Group Policy Management.
  2. Right-click on the Default Domain Controllers Policy under Group Policy Objects, and view the Settings Tab.
  3. Notice Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the local machine is displayed under Administrative Templates:
  4. Copy the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions folder to the C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain\Policies folder:
  5. Now if we check the Default Domain Controller Policy Settings Tab, we can see Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the central store is displayed under Administrative Templates:

All current and future Group Policy Administrative Templates will now be kept in the Central Store.