The Central Store
To take advantage of the benefits of .admx files, you must create a Central Store in the sysvol folder on a Windows domain controller. The Central Store is a file location that is checked by the Group Policy tools by default. The Group Policy tools use all .admx files that are in the Central Store. The files that are in the Central Store are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain.
We suggest keeping a repository of any ADMX/L files that you have for applications that you may want to use. For example, operating system extensions like Microsoft Desktop optimization Pack (MDOP), Microsoft Office, and also third-party applications that offer Group Policy support.
To create a Central Store for .admx and .adml files, create a new folder named PolicyDefinitions in the following location (for example) on the domain controller:
\\contoso.com\SYSVOL\contoso.com\policies\PolicyDefinitions
When you already have such a folder that has a previously built Central Store, use a new folder describing the current version such as:
\\contoso.com\SYSVOL\contoso.com\policies\PolicyDefinitions-1803
Bypass the Local Policy
To bypass the central store and instead use the ADMX files from the local store, set the following registry entry to 1:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Group Policy\EnableLocalStoreOverrideType: REG_DWORD
Values:
0 – Use PolicyDefinitions on Sysvol if present (Default)
1 – Use local PolicyDefinitions always
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