If you’re a system administrator and find yourself making changes in Group Policy Editor, you might want to make a shortcut to it. Here we look at creating a shortcut, pinning it to the Taskbar, and adding it to Control Panel.

Note: Local Group Policy Editor is not available in Home versions of Windows 7.

Typing gpedit.msc into the search box in the Start menu to access Group Policy Editor can get old fast.

To create a shortcut, right-click on the desktop and select New \ Shortcut.

Next type or copy the following path into the location field and click Next.

c:\windows\system32\gpedit.msc

Then give your shortcut a name…something like Group Policy, or whatever you want it to be and click Finish.

Now you have your Group Policy shortcut…

If you want it on the Taskbar just drag it there to pin it.

And that’s all there is to it!

If you want to change the icon, you can use one of the following guides…

Customize Icons in Windows 7

Change a File Type Icon in Windows 7

Add Group Policy to Control Panel

If you’re using non Home versions of XP, Vista, or Windows 7, check out The Geek’s article on how to Add Group Policy Editor to Control Panel.