I'm unable to run the Group Policy Editor for the domain even though I'm a domain Administrator.

John Savill

June 3, 2000

1 Min Read
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A. If you are unable to run the Group Policy Editor or othertools under the Administrative tools folder and receive the following:

The snapin below, referenced in this document has been restricted by policy. Contact your administrator for details.

This can be caused by a number of configuration settings on your domain.

Its possible to restrict users to a set of snap-ins, administrative toolsusing a group policy and to check perform the following:

  1. Start Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in (Start - Programs - Administrative Tools - Active Directory Users and Computers)

  2. Right click on the domain and select Properties

  3. Select the Group Policies tab

  4. Select the default domain policy and click Edit

  5. Move to User ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsMicrosoft Management Console

  6. Double click 'Restrict Users to the explicitly permitted list of snap-ins'
    Click here to view image

  7. Set to 'Not configured'

You can drill down further to "Restricted/Permitted snap-insGroupPolicy" and set 'Group Policy snap-in' to enabled and 'AdministrativeTemplates (User)' to enabled or not configured.

This can also be done on a local computer by directly editing the registry:

  1. Start Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

  2. Move to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftMMC

  3. Double click RestrictToPermittedSnapins

  4. Set to 0 and click OK

  5. Close the registry editor

If you are still unable to start the Group Policy snap in perform thefollowing additional actions:

  1. Start Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

  2. Move to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftMMC

  3. Change the Restrict_Run value to 0 in the following keys if they exist:
    {8FC0B734-A0E1-11D1-A7D3-0000F87571E3} (this is the restriction for Group Policy snap-in)
    {0F6B957E-509E-11D1-A7CC-0000F87571E3} (this is the restriction for the Administrative Templates)

  4. Close the registry editor

If you still can't run the Group Policy snap in contact Microsoft :-)

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