SOLVED Can't connect to Group Policy Client service

[Geoffrey]

.......
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 fixed my sluggish Chrome problem! I got the Group Policy Client error for the first time today and found this thread. Until I implemented this solution Chrome had been so sluggish, sometimes timing out when trying to connect to websites. After following this simple procedure it is flying! As mentioned by Mirador86 I had to click on "Change settings that are currently unavailable" to make the Shutdown Settings appear. Thank you!

 

[Lorraine]

Hi, could anyone help please? I have had the same problem for 2 days. I followed all instructions as window smith said, typing netsh, windsock reset, and unchecked the box turn on fast start ups. Now, I cannot connect to the Internet at all (I use a dongle) and the search web and Windows box is completely empty. I'm worried I've damaged something permanently!?

 

[Trouble]

I'm worried I've damaged something permanently!?

There is nothing in this thread that I can see, that would have "damaged something permanently".
Did you reboot your computer after resetting the winsock catalog?

I cannot connect to the Internet at all (I use a dongle)

Do you have the Windows 10 drivers for your wireless network adapter / USB Dongle?
Have you tried removing it from Device Manager and then rebooting your computer, to see if Windows 10's found new hardware wizard will auto install it?

 

[Lorraine]

Hi, thank you for replying Trouble. Yes I rebooted after the windsock catalog. I also uninstalled the 3 network device and reinstalled it but to no avail. I am not knowledgeable with computers in any way so forgive me for worrying I've done irreparable damage.ive never typed in the command prompt box before and it's concerned me. Now, when I type to in the search window nothing at all is found. I can't afford to take my laptop to be fixed which is why I tried the instructions from window smith. I now dont know what to do!

 

[Trouble]

I have had the same problem for 2 days.

Use System Restore to go back to a point in time prior to that.
Right click the Start Button and choose System from the context menu....
Left column, System Protection..... System Restore button.

 

[Lorraine]

Use System Restore to go back to a point in time prior to that.
Right click the Start Button and choose System from the context menu....
Left column, System Protection..... System Restore button.

Thanks trouble. I have done as you suggested but as restore points are not saved automatically I can only restore to the 26/0816 so the problems remain. It has shown me there was a Windows update on 19/08/16 which I assume kicked off the problem in the first place

 

[Trouble]

First of all.....
Do you have a backup of all your critical data?
Have you at any point performed any disk image backups as suggested here....
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/
Which would allow you to return your installation, in a relatively short span of time, to a point in time when that image was created.

IF you have the installation media you can try performing what is called an in-place / upgrade / repair. That is to say...... upgrade it again, overtop of itself from within your current install, just double click setup.exe in the installation media. Just be sure to check the little box to get updates as part of the upgrade process.
That will generally keep all your programs, data, drivers and such safe, but.....
I would still create a disk image before going forward.
Neosmart has a pretty good article on it here https://neosmart.net/wiki/windows-10-repair-installation/
You can skip the first couple paragraphs where they are promoting their recovery CDs and drill down to the meat of the article below.

IF you do not have the installation media, the ISO can be obtained here
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sof...459594)(TnL5HPStwNw-WaTVja5C7z2Vs7q82apCPg)()

Choose Windows 10, the first item in the first drop down (not single language at the bottom) * see note at bottom.
Next choose your language and your bit version (32 or 64 bit to match your system architecture or in the case of an upgrade, to match your currently installed version of Windows).
That will provide an ISO that will boot, upgrade, repair (or clean install) either or both Windows 10 Pro and Home.
Within Windows 10 you can just double click the ISO file to mount it as a virtual drive and run setup.exe from that virtual drive to perform the in-place / upgrade / repair.
*NOTE: In some cases, we've learned that some people have the "Single Language" version installed. In which case you would need that download. It's important that you match the ISO version that you download with your installation.

To keep and maintain a copy of the installation media on hand for future use, you might want to take the further step of creating the actual installation media from the ISO.
Once you have downloaded the ISO you can use ImgBurn to burn it to a DVD http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
OR
Rufus to burn it to a USB ThumbDrive http://rufus.akeo.ie/
When you've created the installation media then you simply launch setup.exe from the media from within your current version of Windows to perform the in-place upgrade, OR.....
perform a custom clean install, OR....
Boot the computer to access the Windows Recovery Environment to use some of the advanced troubleshooting tools.

 

[Lorraine]

Thanks trouble. No I have never done a disk image back up. I was completely unaware of any need to. This is the first time I've been to this site, after a Google search looking for help. I took my lap top to my dads to use his wifi, and couldn't connect to that either, so it's not a dongle issue re no drivers. I think this is all way above my head. Gotta start saving to take it to a repair shop. The frustration and my lack of knowledge has got the better of me. But thank you for all of your help so far.

 

[Arihant]

I encountered the Group Policy start up problem as third time but this time I applied the solution suggested by windowsmith with edits from Mirador86 and successfully started as a User again.
Thanks to windowsmith and Mirador86.

 

[Swordish]

Hi - I am a new member. As the others have stated ; THANK YOU to Trouble and Windowsmith for helping. My brand new Dell XPS 8900 ran terrific for 1 day, then started with the "group policy client" issue and S-L-O-W running.

So far, unchecking 'turn off fast startup' has worked.

Thanks again for posting and sharing your knowledge.

 

[Trouble]

Glad that it worked for you and while I appreciate the kind words.....
It wasn't me, I attribute that solution.... IF it works, when it works to Windowsmith's post.
It seems that, that particular "Fast Startup" setting can result in other problems as well and seems to apply to certain hardware / software configuration.... and is not always the magic bullet for everyone, although I would strongly recommend giving it a try to see if addresses your particular issues. It's not like you can't go back and re-check the box later, if it proves not to be at issue.

 

[MGM]

I've just tried all the above and get stuck on the page where you turn off the turn on fast start up! It won't let me to tick it ( not highlighted) and when I click on ' change settings that are currently unavailable' the blue disc just goes round and round and then the message box appears with ' these settings can't be changed - the service did not respond to the start or control in a timely fashion.'

 

[Trouble]

I've just tried all the above and get stuck on the page where you turn off the turn on fast start up! It won't let me to tick it ( not highlighted) and when I click on ' change settings that are currently unavailable' the blue disc just goes round and round and then the message box appears with ' these settings can't be changed - the service did not respond to the start or control in a timely fashion.'

Sounds like there may be something additionally wrong in your particular instance, but.....
IF you want to turn of Fast Startup, open an elevated command prompt (Command Prompt (Admin)) and in the command prompt window type
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power" /V HiberbootEnabled /T REG_dWORD /D 0 /F
hit enter and reboot

 

[MGM]

Sounds like there may be something additionally wrong in your particular instance, but.....
IF you want to turn of Fast Startup, open an elevated command prompt (Command Prompt (Admin)) and in the command prompt window type
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power" /V HiberbootEnabled /T REG_dWORD /D 0 /F
hit enter and reboot

Thank you Trouble, I'll have a go!

 

[Freonpsandoz]

- 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

That worked for me. We'll see if the problem recurs.

 

[HikingMike]

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

I signed up to say thank you to windowsmith also. You saved my computer's life since it probably wasn't going to survive very long like that.

I came at this from a somewhat different route. I did the Windows 10 upgrade from 7 near the end of the free period, and then I hadn't had this craziness until a couple weeks ago. I had all sorts of problems with Chrome - it would take many minutes just to start and was slow as hell when Edge seemed to work ok. I noticed the ridiculous shut down time - 10 minutes??? My computer had been pretty fast and now it wasn't. There were lots of odd looking activity and processes when I opened Task Manager. I had internet issues with my wireless and in the Settings app I couldn't get to the network settings - Clicking the link to change adapter options or for network and sharing center just did nothing. Then I got some blank screens in the settings app as well. So then I finally checked the Event Viewer and found all kinds of strange errors in the system log and began searching on those. There was also this Group Policy Client service error notification in the bottom right that came up right after my computer started so I checked that one too. That brought me here. I didn't want to do a system restore since that seemed a terrible solution. Then I found windowsmith's post and that sounded better. I noticed my windows update area was screwed up like his was as well, and the rest described sounded like my problems. I changed the fast boot option, and things went back to normal! Thank goodness. And it doesn't boot any slower anyway.

 

[windowsmith]

NOTE: This week's major Windows 10 update has reset "fast startup" to enabled again. I've turned it straight off again on my PC but on another I've left it on just to see if Microsoft have now solved this issue or not. I'll report back.

 

[Cyd]

Hello, I have a new Yoga 710 and could not figure out the problem as I have no previous downloads. Everything I found until this thread, addressed older software and update issues.

I would just like to give a quick thank you to Trouble and Mirador86. I followed your steps but the key for me was scrolling back to the top to Change Settings currently available. So simple, but I was frustrated until I read that last step. Thanks again!!

 

[Kevin Meyer]

I am having the same problem. I can log on after i power off and then back on

 

[Meowmixeeloaded]

I've done everything that has been recommended and I am now undoing the system restore I went back a month. It's still saying the same thing. I need serious help lol