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

Anonymous
2012-11-04T18:34:27+00:00

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?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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
2016-08-21T13:45:28+00:00

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
2013-02-02T03:55:35+00:00

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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:
  1. First called AuthenticationCapabilities and you must give it a value of 0x00003020 (or 12320 in decimal)
  2. 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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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-05T11:01:13+00:00

    Bloody annoying isn't it Bryan, and sorry to hear you're having the same issues as me :( and for longer by the sounds of it.

    Couldn't agree more about the quick reboot. Seen it loads of times and you know what's going to happen before it does. Obviously the slower reboot is doing what it's supposed to, with starting up all the services, but on a quick reboot, my god, there are loads of services not started including our old friend 'Mr Group Policy Client'

    I hate all this speedy trigger starts. Just go back to how it was, and who cares if the PC takes 5 minutes to load up, at least it started up properly!

    It's getting to the point when I'm going to reset the PC (keeping files etc option) or just use the reset to factory settings and blat the lot.

    £600 for this laptop and it's nearly gone out through the window (no pun intended) several times.

    I'm so frustrated, but they've got my money, so who cares!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-03T12:10:17+00:00

    Yes I get most of what your getting with some slight differences.

    I want to mention for me this has been going on for a long time before Windows 10, I had it for ages with Windows 8 and although I did get it fixed (in Windows 8) thanks to the You Tube video, it would immediately go down yet again as soon as new Microsoft updates came along.

    So even though these days I am on Windows 10 it still happens all the time, so for some of us it just is a real pain. I dont bother now, I just think of it has a Windows 10 trial version and live in hope! Its quite obvious they just cant get to grips with this at the moment!  Usually after a single or maybe at times double reboot the problem is temporarily solved.  But once I have shutdown and come back to the computer again, it will probably happen again on start up. Usually does happen everytime but not always lets say it will happen 8 out of 10 times. Only get the box message maybe one time in 25 times, but it still happens just the same but without letting you know its happened. Also when it happens it usually a extremely fast initial boot up only a few seconds.  When its OK its a slower boot up by about one minute.  So you know its missed connecting if its a few seconds boot. 

    Updates came through again yesterday, but still not sorted it, its still happening.

    Hope a fix comes soon for us all.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-02T18:30:07+00:00

    Thanks for the tip...it didn't work, as its not related to Chrome. Other apps where also behaving badly...even the Windos Update (immersive shell) was crashing shortly after opening...

    I reverted to a previous restore point (Feb 26). On restart....I got an error !!! "Non specific error during restoring the system 0x80070570". Damn!

    In any case...the problem has magically been solved! Another proof of how buggy this Win 10 is.

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