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Group Policy error: is not in a valid format

You may receive a Group Policy daily summary email with the error: "The file DC01.corp.<MyDomain>.com\sysvol\corp.<MyDomain>.com\Policies\{31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}\Machine\registry.pol is not in a valid format. The file might be corrupt. Use Group Policy Object Editor to reconfigure the settings in this extension."

The group policy is corrupted or it is not in a valid format. If you open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) > highlight the group policy in Summary and navigate to > Settings tab, most likely it will return you an error message.
![Settings]./../0-images/ka04u000000HcUd_0EM7000000051OC.png)

Identify the affected GPO​

First of all you need to find out the affected policy.

In the error message "DC01.corp.<MyDomain>.com\sysvol\corp.<MyDomain>.com\Policies\{31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}\Machine\registry.pol" — 31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9 is the GUID of the affected group policy. To find out the GUID of a group policy open GPMC > highlight a group policy and open Details tab > Unique ID is the GUID of a GPO.
![GUID GPO]./../0-images/ka04u000000HcUd_0EM7000000051O7.png)

There are 3 possible solutions:

  1. If you receive an error in the GPMC > GPO Settings you may need to restore it from a backup or create anew.
  2. This error may also appear when you enable the Certificate Services Client "Certificate Enrollment Policy" policy. Please refer to the following Microsoft article regarding this issue - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028605
  3. Restore default domain GPOs from backup. Log on to any domain controller > open command prompt and type: dcgpofix /target:contoso.com (replace contoso.com with your domain name) For more information please refer to the following article - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739095(v=ws.10).aspx
    NOTE: This solution is intended for use only as a last-resort disaster-recovery tool. The customer settings will be reset.
  4. If you have any Antivirus software installed on the affected domain controller please check the Virus scanning recommendations for Enterprise computers - http://www.netwrix.com/kb/1585
  5. You may also omit the errors. To do that please open the file omitproplist_gp.txt located in the Netwrix Auditor installation folder and put the following to the file in a new line:
    *The file * is not in a valid format and must be replaced.*
    If you didn't find a solution please refer to the following Microsoft article regarding this issue - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814751