How to Fix ‘Please wait for the gpsvc’ Error in Windows?

GPSVC, or Group Policy Client, is a background service that runs to manage settings applied through Group Policy Editor. When the user shutdowns, sign-in, and even sign-out, the GPSVC service activates in the background to apply the Group Policy changes.

When GPSVC does not respond, Windows shows Please Wait for the GPSVC message. There are multiple reasons for GPSVC not to respond. However, it often happens when the GPSVC.DLL file gets corrupted or misplaced. To fix this issue, you will have to follow all the methods listed in this article.

1. Restart Your System

If GPSVC has not started when you turned on your computer due to improper shutdown or other reasons, you probably face this issue.

If that’s the case, you will have to restart your laptop or computer. Restarting the system is actually helpful in some scenarios because it restarts the essential Windows services, which often helps fix temporary errors and bugs. You can normally restart if you are able to use your keyboard, but if not, try to force restart your system.

To normal restart your system:

1. Press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete on your keyboard and click the Power button from the bottom right.
2. Now select Shutdown from the power options.
   
3. Once done, just simply turn on your computer and see if the error persists or not.

To force restart your system:

1. Hold the Power Button till your computer showdowns.
2. Once done, wait for several seconds and again press the power button to turn it on.
3. Additionally, if you have a laptop, remove the battery as well, then again connect the battery to turn on the laptop.
4. Once done, check whether this error is fixed or not.

2. Restart the GPSVC service

If restarting the system fails to fix this error, then you should need to restart the GPSVC service manually by navigating to the services Window.

It is possible that the GPSVC service gets disabled by the third-party application, which is why it did not start when you restarted your system in the first method. So to restart the GPSVC service, follow the steps:

1. To restart the GPSVC service, press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys.
2. Here click Task Manager to open it.
   
3. Click Run new task if you have Windows 11. Otherwise, click File > Run new task.
4. Here enter services.msc and click OK to navigate to the services Window.
   
5. Find the service with the name Group Policy Client.
6. Then, right-click on it to select Properties.
   
7. Once you open its properties, change the startup type from Manual to Automatic.
8. Click Apply, then click Start if the service is not running.
   
9. Once done, close the Windows and see if the error persists.

3. Repair the GPSVC DLL file

When Windows fails to receive a response from the GPSVC.DLL file, Windows displays this Please Wait for the GPSVC. This mainly happens when the GPSVC.DLL file gets corrupted. So in this method, we will try to repair it using the System File Checker utility.

System File Checker or SFC is a command line utility that is used to repair or restore files located in the System32 folder. When you execute the SFC command, it verifies all the protected system files, and then it replaces the corrupted files from the cache folder located in %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.

To execute this command, follow the steps:

1. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and clicking the Task Manager option.
2. Click Run new task from the top. If you have Windows 10, click File, then click Run new task.
3. Tick Create this task with administrator privileges, then type cmd and click OK to open the Command Prompt.
   
4. Once done, type sfc /scannow and hit Enter.
   
5. Now wait for the command to be executed.
6. Once done, restart your computer and check the result.

4. Download and Replace the GPSVC DLL file

If the error still persists, you can try downloading the GPSVC.DLL file from the internet. This method works in most scenarios where the DLL file gets corrupted. After downloading, you will have to replace a DLL file with the corrupted one. To do so, follow the instructions.

4.1 Create a user account

1. To create an account, you will have to access the command prompt. For that, just press Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys together.
2. Select Task Manager from the options. Click Run new task from the top. Then, tick  Create this task with administrator privileges and type cmd and click OK.
   
3. Once you have opened the command prompt, type the following command to create an account.

   net user /add [*username] [password]

   Password is optional. You can leave it.
   
4. Hit Enter, then press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select Switch user, then select a new user account to sign in.

4.2 Download the GPSVC file

1. Download the GPSVC.DLL file from the link according to your OS architecture.
2. To check your OS architecture, press the Win + R keys simultaneously.
3. Enter msinfo32 in the box and click OK
4. here; check the System Type,
5.  Then go back to the link and download the DLL file according to it.
   
6. Once it is downloaded, extract the folder using WinRAR or 7Zip and navigate into it.
   
7. Now copy the GPSVC.DLL file and go to WindowsC:\Windows\System32.
   
8. Paste the DLL file here and select Replace this file in the destination.
   
9. Once done, restart your computer and sign in with the account showing this error message.

5. Configure the GPSVC Registry file

If the GPSVC registry keys are missing or set incorrectly, it can lead you to this error. It is possible that your registry keys get changed after a faulty Windows update or as a result of using third-party software. In this case, you can try configuring registry entries for the GPSVC with the help of the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and selecting Task Manager.
2. Once you open the task manager, click Run new task from the top or click File > Run new task if you have Windows 10.
3. Here type regedit, tick Create this task with administrator privileges, then click OK to open the registry editor.
   
4. Now go to the following directory using the left sidebar.

   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost

5. Right-click on the Svchost folder from the left sidebar, hover New and select Key.
   
6. Name it GPSvcGroup. Now on the right side, you will have to create two different key values.
7. Right-click the empty space, hover New, select DWORD (32-bit Value), and name it AuthenticationCapabilities.
   
8. Double-click on it, select Decimal from the left pane and type 12320.
   
9. Once done, click OK. Now create another key, hover New, and select DWORD (32-bit Value), name it CoInitializeSecurityParam.
10. Double-click on it, set the Value data to 1, and click OK.
    
11. Once all is done, close the registry editor.
12. Press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete, click the Power button, and select Restart. If the issue persists, then follow the final two solutions to fix this error.
    

6. Use a System Restore utility

Since GPSVC.DLL is one of the critical system files, we can easily restore it by using the system restore utility. System restore is a troubleshooting utility that requires a restore point created when Windows is working properly. Basically, it takes a snapshot of crucial system files, including drivers and registry files. So when something bad happens, you will be able to restore to the previous state.

To do so, follow the steps:

1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys, then click the Power button, and while holding Shift, click Restart. This will open Windows Recovery Environment.
2. Now go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options.
   
3. From the advanced options menu, select System Restore, then wait for your computer to restart.
   
4. Once done, click Next, then select a restore point, and again click Next.
   Note: If it says no restore points have been created on your computer’s system drive, skip this method.
5. Finally, click Finish to restore your Windows.
   
6. Once done, now your issue should be fixed.

7. Reset your System

If you don’t have a restore point created, in this case, the final solution we can try is resetting Windows without losing the data. Resetting Windows will re-create all the system files, just like reinstalling Windows. You won’t lose data such as images and documents saved in the system drive. However, you will have to install applications and drivers.

1. To reset your system, access the Windows Recovery Environment. For that, simply press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, then click the Power option.
2. Hold Shift and click Restart.
3. Now select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.
   
4. Select Keep my files if you want to keep your files. Otherwise, select Remove everything.
5. Then, select Local reinstall and click Reset to reset your Windows.
   
6. Once done, now your issue should be resolved.