Solved Group policy editor on standard user

alibi · Apr 25, 2024

I am the only user of this laptop, but I like to containerize my usage into separate accounts (family, work, study, entertainment).
I want to use the local group policy editor as a centralized place to change all the settings so they don't revert between updates and I could easily back up the .gpo files if I reinstall Windows or get a new computer.
However, when I try running gpedit.msc, I get the Access denied error:

In case that changes anything, I do have an empty admin account that I never log into but whose password I enter whenever I need to install or launch a program that needs more permissions than a standard user has.

glasskuter · Apr 25, 2024

I believe you answered your own question. Standard users can not change group policy. Only administrators can.

antspants · Apr 25, 2024

alibi said:
In case that changes anything, I do have an empty admin account that I never log into but whose password I enter whenever I need to install or launch a program that needs more permissions than a standard user has.

That’s how you’d do it

idgat · Apr 25, 2024

alibi said:
I get the Access denied error:

That's the whole point for Standard account, protects the system from unauthorised changes.

alibi · Apr 25, 2024

glasskuter said:
I believe you answered your own question. Standard users can not change group policy. Only administrators can.

idgat said:
That's the whole point for Standard account, protects the system from unauthorised changes.

It seems a bit different. In case of programs, I just need to enter the admin password while being able to remain in the standard user account. Gpedit won't even prompt me for a password.

alibi · Apr 25, 2024

antspants said:
That’s how you’d do it

Gotcha.

For some reason I thought the User Configuration part of gpedit only affects the current user. But it seems everything is system-wide and applies to all old and new local users.