Reset Local and Group Policy on a Windows PC

I have found myself in many situations where I needed to run this command in order to start with a clean slate in regard to policy.  Putting it here on the blog will ensure I can find the command the next time that I need it.   In short, there are times when you move machines from domain to domain or you have done a series of policy edits over time and your RSOP (Resultant Set of Policy) just doesn’t seem to be accurate.  When I find myself in this situation, I run the command below:

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

After running this command I reboot the machine, log back in, and run a  “gpupdate /force” to pull the policy back down.  I then check the RSOP again to see where I stand.  I have found that this command is very helpful in troubleshooting RSOP while cleaning up the trash.