SOLVED Can't connect to Group Policy Client service

[Sal Salvo]

Here is the result of my research into this problem as I solved it by reading people's comments on this and other forums.

I updated all 3 of our family laptops to windows 10 and within a few weeks they had all developed this problem. I was therefore in a position to compare what software was on each laptop and try various things.

Symptoms: The Group policy client message was not the only symptom. After this message showed, it was impossible to access the "Update and security" part of the "settings" menu. Also, the policy client message only occurred on startup following a shutdown which was halted by a message saying that a "taskhost" windows was still running an "automatic app update". This was the same on all 3 laptops.

So this error seems linked to the update process not the content of the update itself. The first thing you need to do is get your pc temporarily working properly again. I tried various things but a you-tube video led be to this process which worked every time:
- open a command prompt window as an administrator (right click on the app in the start menu)
- type "netsh" and press enter
- type "winsock reset" and press enter
- restart your computer

At least for me this got rid of the message and made the update menu start working again. I've no idea what this resets but it works and appears to do no harm. HOWEVER, this is only a temporary fix and your issue will come back in a few days!

I read somewhere else that this problem is caused by apps that are installed with "admin" rights trying to update themselves. Chrome is mentioned in particular. I uninstalled chrome and tried to stop other apps from auto-updating. I also suspected MS Office 2007 as this was one of the few apps on all 3 laptops. So I stopped "update" from updating "other window products" under advanced options. I noticed under update history that an update for MS Office 2007 kept failing, so I manually installed that update.

Some of this seemed to make the problem take longer to come back, but it always did at different times on all 3 laptops. I suspect that I didn't manage to stop all apps doing this.

Then a post about the "taskhost" process stopping shutdown led my to the solution. Windows 10 has a special "fast startup option". Basically this seems to make your PC take longer to shutdown but makes the startup a bit quicker. Turn this off! That's it! You find it by:
- Start
- Settings
- System
- Power and sleep
- additional power settings
- click on "choose what the power buttons do"
- scroll down to Shutdown settings
- uncheck the box next to "turn on fast startup"
- click save changes

This worked for all 3 PCs.

My view is that this problem happens when certain apps are trying to update themselves when you turn off your pc. Something conflicts with how the windows "fast startup" process shuts down your pc. This corrupts something about the user accounts and windows update program. But this only happens for certain hardware/software combinations so only a few people get this error.

Hope this helps other frustrated users out there!

Thank you !!! I have joined this forum !!! ... Your temporary fix worked for me ... I will wait to see id the problem persists to do your permanent fix

 

[Sparafucile]

I have had the same problems. Slow to shut down and no Group Policy Client loaded as an non-administrator. I have found that if I log in as an administrator and then log out again the GPC will eventually load up OK. This might take 3 or 4 attempts but has always worked eventually. There is no restoring from set points or tinkering with Regedit (Something which fills me with dread!)
Hope this helps
Spara

 

[Kingston]

I could not log on as user today. After reading this thread, I logged on as administrator and went straight to windowsmith's permanent solution to see if it would work without any of the intermediate steps - and it did. I disabled "turn on fast startup" and then shut down completely. Then I logged on as User, successfully. So far, anyway. Many thanks for posting.

 

[Trouble]

I could not log on as user today. After reading this thread, I logged on as administrator and went straight to windowsmith's permanent solution to see if it would work without any of the intermediate steps - and it did. I disabled "turn on fast startup" and then shut down completely. Then I logged on as User, successfully. So far, anyway. Many thanks for posting.

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Rogerik]

"Trouble" thank you for this info...worked like a dream. It's funny but I've upgraded to Windows 10 on my Dell and my ASUS and didn't have this problem. My wife's new HP laptop came with Windows 10 and her's is the only one that did this. A word of advice, it will take quite a while after you "click" on "system" for it to open. I thought it wasn't working so I used my other laptop to research it and after 5 minutes it popped up. The "system restore" took quite a while to run as well....but just give it time. Thanks again!

 

[PinkSkiR]

Windowsmith, you are my hero. I have been dealing with this for months. I'd found the winsock reset portion that worked for awhile but as you found the problem returned. I have my fingers crossed this time!!

 

[PinkSkiR]

FYI: My Windows 10 just updated last night and reset all of this so I had to repeat the process!

 

[Damocles]

windowsmith you are a legend. This has been bothering me for weeks thank you so much!!! Applied your fix and everything seems fine, a bit slower but at least i have full control again. Thank you

 

[FamilyHelper]

Hi windowsmith. I signed up to this forum especially to thank you. I changed the "enable fast startup" setting and it was fixed. Really good! My family always comes to me with PC problems, and I am very lucky that people like you share their experience on forums. Most useful!

 

[randomthinker5]

Right click the start button and choose system
From the left column choose System Protection.
Click the System Restore button
Click the Next button
You may need to check the box at the bottom that says, "Show more restore points"
Pick a date / point in time before the problem occurred and see if that helps.

This seemed to be the only thing that solved the problem of my start menu and task bar refusing to open. I've searched many forums/threads and tried several different things. So, thank you for this!

 

[Trouble]

Welcome to the forum, randomthinker5.
Glad that you were able to use a restore point to get things back to normal.
Unfortunately, if the problem was produced by a Windows Update then it may return when next you install an update. So make sure you create a new manual restore point now just in case you might need it again.

 

[randomthinker5]

Welcome to the forum, randomthinker5.
Glad that you were able to use a restore point to get things back to normal.
Unfortunately, if the problem was produced by a Windows Update then it may return when next you install an update. So make sure you create a new manual restore point now just in case you might need it again.

I believe the problem resulted after the latest update (on March 24, for me, anyway). Once I restored my computer to before the update, everything worked fine.

If it isn't too much trouble, could you tell me how to create a manual restore point?

 

[Trouble]

Right click the start button and choose System from the context menu.
Left column click System Protection
Click the Create button and give it a name

 

[randomthinker5]

Right click the start button and choose System from the context menu.
Left column click System Protection
Click the Create button and give it a name

Thank you so much!

 

[Rayuo]

Right click the start button and choose system
From the left column choose System Protection.
Click the System Restore button
Click the Next button
You may need to check the box at the bottom that says, "Show more restore points"
Pick a date / point in time before the problem occurred and see if that helps.

 

[Jayasri]

I joined up to say thanks to Windowsmith. I didn't even do the system restore, I just went straight to the Systems tools and got rid of the default quick start. I did have to restart first as my attempts to make available the greyed out options didn't work until I restarted. And not only does this seem to have fixed the problem (time will tell if it return) but it has also fixed a more trivial issue, which was that since updating to Windows 10 my machine never shuts down completely, always have to let it "shut down" and there is still one light showing and I have to keep my finger down for 8 secs for it to close down fully before i can start it up. Now that is fixed.
Thank you Windowsmith@!!!!!!!!

 

[Rez7777]

I am having this same problem. I barely bought the computer three weeks ago. I updated it and this very same message started appearing after I updated it two days ago. I went to system properties and tried clicking on system restore but it doesn't allow me to do it. It is not highlighted as it is just grey. It doesn't give me the option to do it. I feel like returning it back to the store but if anyone could help me out here I'd appreciate it so much. Thank you very much.

 

[Pinckney]

Windows 10 has a special "fast startup option". Basically this seems to make your PC take longer to shutdown but makes the startup a bit quicker. Turn this off! That's it! You find it by:
- Start
- Settings
- System
- Power and sleep
- additional power settings
- click on "choose what the power buttons do"
- scroll down to Shutdown settings
- uncheck the box next to "turn on fast startup"
- click save changes

This solution worked for me, thank you so much!

I only started using Windows 10 a few days ago when I bought a new computer and encountered the problem when I logged on today and realized I wasn't able to start Google Chrome. Thanks to your excellent instructions everything is working perfectly now.

 

[Rez7777]

Can anyone help me out? I did a system restore but the message appeared again as it updated. Frustrating as hell, went to geeksquad and they tried charging me 150$ to fix this. I might add that chrome doesn't work as well

 

[Lesqld]

This is quite weird isn't it? I had this problem after the last windows update yesterday. Have not had the problem before. I set up a pin windows login some time ago, and a microsoft account login on the same computer. The message about Can't connect to Group Policy Client service appeared when logging in with my pin number this morning. So, I changed to log-in using microsoft account and it worked!

Next, after reading windowsmith's findings, I just unchecked the "turn on fast startup", shut down, then started computer again, and this time logged-in with my pin number (as I had always wanted to do) and it worked!

I have 2 different desktop computers, a home-made one and a Dell Inspiron, both with Windows 10 home, it was the Dell that had the problem, yet the same automatic windows updates occurred yesterday on both computers

So what do you make of that guys?