Group Policy – Central Store

In my next post, I will talk about setting up our first GPO to configure an authorative time source in Active Directory. Before I do though, I will set up a central store for the group policy template files (ADMX files).
First of all, download the latest ADMX files from the following URL:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53430
When downloaded, run the MSI file, it will extract the ADMX files we require. From your workstation/management server created earlier, log on and navigate to \\firstdcname\c$\Windows\SYSVOL\domain\Policies (note if you changed the path as part of deployment, navigate to this path). Copy the PolicyDefinitions folder from the extracted location (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Group Policy\Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016) to the Policies folder under SYSVOL\domain\.
Once the files are copied you can open Group Policy Management Console and start using these templates. As Microsoft or other providers update the ADMX files you can just copy them here and everyone will start using these.