Find Group Policy by registry key

Walk down the registry keys that policies use and find the policies that use a key.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM)

  Keys used by Computer Configuration policies

  2 subkeys · 5,063 policies
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU)

  Keys used by User Configuration policies

  1 subkey · 6,214 policies

How to apply Group Policy with the registry

Here is an example that follows this policy: Remove access to use all Windows Update features

1. On the policy page, find the registry entry: key, value name, type, and enabled/disabled values.
2. This policy uses the value SetDisableUXWUAccess (type REG_DWORD) under the key HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate. Enabled is 1; disabled is 0. View key page
3. Press Windows key + R, run regedit, and go to the key above. If the key does not exist, create it with New > Key.
4. Create a New > REG_DWORD value named SetDisableUXWUAccess and enter 1 (on) or 0 (off) as its data. Back up the registry before you change it.

What are registry-based policies?

Most Administrative Template settings are stored as registry values. Policies for the computer are written under HKLM and policies for the user under HKCU, usually in the SOFTWARE\Policies or SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies keys.

If you know a key path, start at the hive and walk down to find the policies that use that key. Each policy page shows the key, value name, value type, and the enabled and disabled values.

How to read a key page

A key page lists the policies that use the key. Open a policy to see its value name, value type, and the values written when it is enabled or disabled on one screen, and jump to the policy page as shown in the Group Policy editor.

Registry value types

Administrative Template policies use one of these value types: number (REG_DWORD), 64-bit number (REG_QWORD), string (REG_SZ), expandable string (REG_EXPAND_SZ) or multi-string (REG_MULTI_SZ). On/off policies are often stored as the REG_DWORD value 1 or 0.

Using this with Windows 11 Home

Windows 11 Home has no Group Policy editor, but you can often apply the same setting by creating the key and value name used by the policy in the Registry Editor (regedit). Back up the registry before you change it.

Frequently used registry keys

• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate 46 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU 12 policies
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services 104 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender 154 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection 20 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent 6 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive 4 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\RemovableStorageDevices 19 policies
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search 47 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System 76 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows 1,551 policies
• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer 146 policies
• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System 26 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge 866 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome 742 policies
• HKLM\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox 415 policies