Why won't windows connect to the group policy client?

Anonymous

I am currently using a dell inspiron 7720 with windows 7 home premium and recently a small message has begun appearing above my taskbar saying

"Failed to connect to a windows service

Windows could not connect to the Group Policy Client service. The problem prevents standard users from logging on to the system.

As an administrative user, you can review the System Event Log for details about why the service didn't respond"

Anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it?

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

The resolution is quite easy. Ignore all those tech geeks here and on other sites who just want to show off how they can fiddle with registries--a very dangerous game. Go to Search, type cmd, open cmd as Administrator. Type exactly this (with indicated spaces): netsh winsock repair then press Enter. You will need to Restart (NOT shut down and turn On) your computer. Bingo! Unfortunately this condition may re-occur from time to time, like if you Start your computer before turning on your internet and establishing a good connection. No sweat the fix takes about 3-5 minutes depending upon your computer Restart speed.

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Anonymous

I FOUND SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM!

You did a great job on discovering the events BEFORE the issue started to occur. I had this issue on my laptop since November, and it really bugged me. Like you, I sifted through the event log and found absolutely the same pattern you described.

In short, the pattern is as follows: Windows updates run automatically, and when reboot is initiated after the updates are finished, the computer crashes. When it boots up, it reports that the last shutdown was unexpected, and the issue begins to occur.

I spent 2 days trying to dig out a solution from the Internet, to no avail, until I came across this page. It doesn't say anything about this particular problem, but it gives more information about SVCHOST process that starts many services, including Group Policy Client. It looks like during reboot a vital registry settings were lost and Group Policy Client simply "doesn't know" how to start. Let me explain:

There are two places to look in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services this path should contain gpsvc key (a folder), which is responsible for service parameters and configuration. I found that the key wasintact, so, you do not touch anything here.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SVCHOSTThis is the most important path you should look into, as it must contain the keys and values referred in the key #1. Below are descriptions what must be present there.

There must be Multi-String value called GPSvcGroup. My laptop was missing it. So, you should create multi-string value named GPSvcGroup and assign it value GPSvc.
Next, you must create a key (a folder) and name it GPSvcGroup
Then open newly-created GPSvcGroup folder and create 2 DWORD values:

First called AuthenticationCapabilities and you must give it a value of 0x00003020 (or 12320 in decimal)
Second is called CoInitializeSecurityParam and it must have value of 1.

Once you completed all steps above, reboot the computer and the problem will be fixed.

I am so relieved I was able to fix it, and hope this will help others with the similar issue.

Here is the link for video walkthrough: http://youtu.be/4m5KEmckWK4[http://youtu.be/4m5KEmckWK4](http://youtu.be/4m5KEmckWK4)

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168 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-05-29T15:43:14+00:00

I made my own thread about this issue but since this one seems decently active I suppose I'll try posting here.

On the night of the 19th I came home, turned on my laptop, and my audio sounded off (I don't mean "off off" I mean it didn't sound as good as usual). I went into Beats Audio Control Panel and when I clicked "listening experience" it would crash. So upon Googling I found that I had to uninstall and reinstall my IDT Audio, so I did that. Upon rebooting my laptop a couple times the audio started working normally again.

The next morning, I turn on my laptop and get this "failed to connect to a Windows Service" error. Googled around, tried the following solutions which didn't work:

-netsh winsock reset (I don't have netsh)

-regedit (I am not missing "gpsvc", etc.)

-Disable Fast Startup (I do not have the fast startup option)

I then tried the Stop Windows Font Cache Service, which did work, but only temporarily. The next day (or maybe the day after?) I turned on my laptop and got the error again, but this time the Stop Windows Font Cache Service didn't work.

I then turned off my laptop and turned it on in Safe Mode, and restarted it, which solved the problem. Next morning, got the error again. This time I had to force my laptop to turn off via the power button as turning it off would just cause it to close Windows Explorer and stay on my wallpaper forever, not ever getting to the "logging off" screen. Then I turned it on in Safe Mode, rebooted, and it solved the problem. This keeps happening. Booting in Safe Mode and restarting has fixed this five times now, but only temporarily.

Yesterday I also updated my drivers, which did not solve the issue either. I know the cause of this was uninstalling and reinstalling my IDT Audio. Has anyone else had this happen after reinstalling audio? If so, how did you fix it?

I have Windows 7.

(Also accidentally made this a reply to the previous post, didn't meant to do that)
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Anonymous

2016-05-23T12:20:18+00:00

I have recently had this problem on my Samsung N150 net book running Windows 10.

According to another website, there was a simple fix without editing the Registry. The problem seems to be in Fast Startup so from

Setting>System>Power & Sleep>Additional Power Settings>Choose What the Power Buttons Do>Change settings that are currently unavailable and you should be able to uncheck Turn on Fast Startup at the bottom of the form. The Shutdown Settings are normally greyed out.

This has worked for me for the past week. According to the website, this problem occurs on older, slower machines like mine.

Hope this helps
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Anonymous

2016-05-20T13:29:32+00:00

Thank you so much for your helpful video, I have had this problem for months now and had to reset my laptop 3 weekends in a row, I am 68 this year and female, so I thought I'd give it a go, if I could manage it anyone can.

The problem is now fixed!! I am so grateful to you for your help.
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