group policy editor

[stuck]

My Win 10 box runs Win 10 Pro and when I look at Windows Update settings I see:
    *Some settings are managed by your organisation
    View configured update policies
The latter takes me to a list of 'Policies set on your device' but the list is short on details. I can find and open the GPE but as yet I've not found anything in there that is a match to any of the policies listed in Settings.

Is there a Dummies Guide to the GPE, my Googling wasn't very fruitful.

Ken

[Rudi]

    
I enjoy the HowTo Geek tutorials. Here are two to browse through:

1. What Is “Group Policy” in Windows?
and
2. Using Group Policy Editor to Tweak Your PC


In addition, how about:
1. Group Policies - Beginners' guide
or
2. Microsoft Doc: Group Policy for Beginners
or
3. Group Policy for Beginners Tutorial (pdf)

[stuck]

Thank you Rudi, not sure how I missed them in my Googling, no matter.

However, it looks like that's not what I'm looking for after all. What I want to be able to do is relate what I see in Settings:

viewConfigdUpdatePolicies.jpg

to the GPE environment, where everything I look at seems to be 'not configured', e.g. under:
    Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Aministrative Templates\ Windows Com[ponents\Windows Updates
I see:

localPolicyWinUpdates.jpg

My understanding so far is that 'not configured' means a policy has no effect, yet I still see:
    *Some settings are managed by your organisation
when I look at Windows Update in Settings and as you can see on the first screenshot there are a list of 'Polices set on your device'.

NB my Win 10 Pro PC is a stand alone machine, it is not connected to a domain.




Ken

[Rudi]

The links were my 2 cents contribution. I don't have much experience with this field at all. Sorry.

[StuartR]

Is your computer a member of a domain? The policies you see when you run GPEDIT are defined locally, they are merged with group policies that are downloaded from the domain when you log in.

[stuck]

Is your computer a member of a domain?

No, it's a stand alone PC.

Ken
I did mention that earlier

[StuartR]

Has it ALWAYS been a standalone PC, or was it previously in a domain?

[stuck]

All the time I've had it it has always been a stand alone machine. What it was in it's reprevious life though I don't know because it is a reburbished PC, bought from MicroDream. Like this:
https://microdream.co.uk/dell-optiplex- ... puter.html
but with a 250GB SSD rather than a 500GB regular HDD.

Ken

[StuartR]

I suspect it is an ex business PC, refurbished but still with the original operating system

[John Gray]

Microdream reloads Windows 10 on each PC or laptop they sell!
See https://microdream.co.uk/certified-refurbished.html

M-A-R.png

[stuck]

I guess I need to contact MicroDream then.

Ken

[John Gray]

I doubt you'll get anywhere with that.

Windows 10 has simply been "pre-installed' on the hard disk, and since the time you powered it on originally you have started and continued the setup process yourself, from choosing the language and keyboard layout onwards. Since then you will also have applied (literally) hundreds of updates. Any reseller has no control over that process...

[StuartR]

Does this article help?

[stuck]

Does this article help?

Sadly, no. I even tried it more than once with a restart in between turning on the Data and Preview Builds policy with and turning it off again. I alos checked 'Settings' while the policy was set to Enabled with full telemetry, the "some settings are managed...' message is still there.

The behaviour of this machine though does sound exactly like it says in the article:

...certain bugs and settings can incorrectly configure your own PC as being locked down by a nonexistent organization, which limits your access to certain settings in the operating system.

Anybody got any other sugestions or will I have to resort to a nuclear option of downloading a Win 10 image file from MS, wiping the SSD and then installing Win 10 Pro from scratch?

Ken

[stuck]

I wonder...

I set this PC up using a local account NOT an MS account...

Ken

[StuartR]

I always use local accounts and I don't have this issue

[StuartR]

I didn't used to have this issue, I don't think. I wonder what changed?

[HansV]

Do you use O&O Shutup10? It may have disabled some settings.

[stuck]

Do you use O&O Shutup10? It may have disabled some settings.

Based on the article Stuart linked to, about toggling the telemetry settings in the GPE, I did wonder if the fact I'd used O&O Shutup10 could have something to do with my problem. I've yet to re-use it to put all the settings back to their defaults and rebooting to see if that helps. If I ever get time to try that I'll report back, meanwhile I'm just living with my system the way it is.

Ken

[StuartR]

I don't use that one, although it's possible I may have done at some time in the past.