(2016-10-13) Namespace Already Defined As The Target Namespace For Another File In The Policy Store

My AD is running W2K12R2 DCs with the corresponding ADMX/ADML files. While preparing it for an updated Windows 10 client (Version 1607, OS build 14393.22) (this was installed ages ago and updated to the latest and greatest using Windows Update), I also decided to update the policy definitions on the central policy store. So I copied the files in the folder “C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions” on the updated Windows 10 computer to the folder representing the central policy store on a DC (<Drive>:\<folder>\domain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions). SYSVOL replication should take care of the rest.

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Now after starting the GPMC and targeting any of the GPOs you have for either viewing or editing

…and clicking on the Settings tab followed by clicking the “Show All”, you may see something similar to the following

Figure 1: Error Message About An Already Defined Namespace In Some Other ADMX File

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…or opening a GPO, you may see something similar to the following

Figure 2: Error Message About An Already Defined Namespace In Some Other ADMX File

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Figure 3: Error Message About An Already Defined Namespace In Some Other ADMX File

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Looking at my Windows 10 client, its PolicyDefinitions folder contained the following files:

• LocationProviderAdm.admx (en-US folder contained LocationProviderAdm.adml)
• Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.admx (en-US folder contained Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.adml)
• WindowsStore.admx (en-US folder contained WindowsStore.adml)

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After this I also checked my Windows Server 2016 TP5 machine and its PolicyDefinitions folder contained the following files

Looking at my Windows 10 client, its PolicyDefinitions folder contained the following files:

• LocationProviderAdm.admx (en-US folder contained LocationProviderAdm.adml)
• WindowsStore.admx (en-US folder contained WindowsStore.adml)

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My W2K12R2 DC had initially the following files in the central policy store:

• LocationProviderAdm.admx (en-US folder contained LocationProviderAdm.adml)
• WinStoreUI.admx (en-US folder contained WinStoreUI.adml)

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After copying the files from the Windows 10 client to the central policy store on the W2K12R2 DC it ended up with the following files:

• LocationProviderAdm.admx (en-US folder contained LocationProviderAdm.adml)
• Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.admx (en-US folder contained Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.adml)
• WindowsStore.admx (en-US folder contained WindowsStore.adml)
• WinStoreUI.admx (en-US folder contained WinStoreUI.adml)

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Looking at the end result of the files, it explained the error messages in Figure 1, 2 and 3.

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The solution to this one in my case:

• Using Notepad++, I compared “LocationProviderAdm.admx” and “Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.admx” and found no differences
• I deleted:
• Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.admx
• en-US\Microsoft-Windows-Geolocation-WLPAdm.adml
• Using Notepad++, I compared “WindowsStore.admx” and “WinStoreUI.admx” and found differences
• I deleted:
• WinStoreUI.admx (this file was older and contained less data than the other file)
• en-US\WinStoreUI.adml

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You can also read more about this in the following KB article MS-KBQ3077013 – "’Microsoft.Policies.Sensors.WindowsLocationProvider’ is already defined" error when you edit a policy in Windows

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Cheers,
Jorge
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