2 Ways to Export and Import Local Security Policy in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

How can I backup local security policy or transfer all policy settings from one system to another? In this tutorial we’ll show 2 simple ways to export and import local security policy in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Method 1: Export and Import Local Security Policy with GUI

The Local Security Policy Editor comes with the import / export feature, making it much easier to migrate or replicate the same local security policy settings across multiple computers.

Export:

  1. Press the Windows key + R together. When the Run dialog box shows up, type secpol.msc into it and hit Enter to open the Local Security Policy Editor.
  2. Right-click on Security Settings in the left-side pane, and you can then select “Export policy” from the context menu.
  3. Browse to the location where you want to save the security settings file (.INF), give it a name and click on Save.
  4. Open the .inf file with your text editor. As you can see, it contains all your local security policy, including your account lockout and password policy.

Import:

  1. Open the Local Security Policy Editor as before, right-click on Security Settings in the left pane and this time choose “Import policy“.
  2. Browse to the location where you saved the security settings file, select the INF file and click on Open.
  3. Reboot your computer to apply the new local security policy.

Method 2: Export and Import Local Security Policy with Command Prompt

To export the local security policy settings to a file (for example, security-policy.inf), open the Command Prompt as administrator and type the following:
secedit.exe /export /cfg D:\security-policy.inf

When you need to import the local security policy settings from the .INF file, simply run this command:
secedit.exe /configure /db %windir%\security\local.sdb /cfg D:\security-policy.inf

This method is very useful especially when you’re using the Home edition of Windows which has no Local Security Policy Editor.

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