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.
Why won't windows connect to the group policy client?
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.
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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Anonymous
2015-10-16T04:32:11+00:00 Also, on the lock and password screen, the Wi-Fi indicator has a loading indicator, but it shows it permanently, and the Wi-Fi does work fine. This and the message came up since the beginning of October and I got tired of it. So a wanted a fix, and here it is! I have Windows 10, so I wasn't sure if this would work, but it does! Thank you P.L.X.!
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Anonymous
2015-10-27T09:44:50+00:00 First let me indicate I am running Win 8.1 and a program called ClassicShell. A couple of days ago I started to get the "Windows cannot connect to the group policy client" message each time I rebooted the computer. I also noted that WindowsExplorer is not working properly, it starts searches without me asking for them and won't open the network folder. I found your Youtube message on the net and went through all the steps you indicated and noticed first in services.msc that gpsvc was not running. I then went into regedit and checked the netsvcs folder in Svchost and found that gpsvc was there. I checked the netsvcs folder and found nothing was missing, all the files including the AuthenticationCapabilites, CoinitializeSecurityAllowLowbox and CoinitializeSecurityParam were there with the proper values. I am lost as what to do next to get gpsvs up and running again. I hope you can help.
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Anonymous
2015-11-13T20:23:06+00:00 GREAT HELP !!!
THANKS !!!
:-)