The one with gpedit.msc

It's amazing how lazy people can get these days with this whole Internet lying around. I just got reminded today.
I was trying to open Group Policy Editor on a Windows XP machine to import the ICA client adm file and configure some settings just for that machine ... when I got this:

Group Policy Editor Error - Access Denied. Wait .. what?

Pfff... Let me Google this I said to myself. It'll know the answer for me. As always, got some results one of them being :

http://windowsnurfingertips.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/gpeditmsc-or-group-policy-editor-access.html

No success. Sad face.

Then I recalled my purpose and was snapped out of my laziness by Mark Russinovich's motto: "When in doubt, run Process Monitor". Of course...
I still can't believe how I dismissed Mark's tool just like that..running into Google's arms. Running procmon and filtering the results by ACCESS DENIED gave me this:

c:\windows\system32\grouppolicy\gpt.ini

Hmm...let's check the file.

That doesn't look right, does it? Nope.
After changing permissions I was able to open gpedit.

I guess the bottom line is...don't be afraid of a little troubleshooting..and when in doubt, run Process Monitor :).