Windows – Clear Group Policy Cache

That's quite uncommon, but if we need to clear the local cache of Group Policies (GPO) on a workstation/laptop joined to a domain, there are three main methods we can use to accomplish this activity.

Method 1

• Open My Computer / Computer
• In the URL or address bar paste: %windir%\system32\GroupPolicy.
• Right click and delete the: Machine and User folders to clear local group policy cache.
• Restart the computer to reapply the group policies.

Note: you can also run gpupdate /force on the machine to force the policy to reapply.

You can also run the little PowerShell oneliner as Administrator to remove the Group Policy folder and all files below:

#requires -Version 1.0
#Requires -RunAsAdministrator

Remove-Item "$env:windir\system32\GroupPolicy" -Force -Recurse

Method 2

• Delete the HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft Key (looks like a folder).
• Delete the HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft Key.
• Delete the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects Key.
• Delete the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies Key.

Method 3

• Remove the computer from the domain – (change to a Workgroup).
• Restart computer.
• Run gpupdate /force.
• Rejoin the domain.