INETNES.ADMX error on Windows Server 2008R2 / Windows 7

Working today with a co-worker to try to resolve an issue with this error when launching the local group policy editor on a Windows Server 2008R2 SP1 server:

Encountered an error while parsing. Resource '$(string.Advanced_EnableSSL3Fallback)' Preferences in an attribute displayName could not be found.

File C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\inetres.admx, line 795, column 308

We were not alone in this issue, another few posted about it on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/3ayv6h/recent_ie11_installs_breaking_gp_template/

We tried taking the .admx and .adml file from a good working server and copying the files out of C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\ and C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US

The inetres.admx file is 1630kb that seems to cause the problem.  We compared it to another server that was from an entirely different environment – the inetres.admx file is 1632kb.

We copied the 1632kb inetres.admx and associated .adml file to the effected server, and that fixed the error.

We also tried downgrading Internet Explorer 11 to 10, and even back down to 8, and back to 11, and each time when we jumped back to IE 11, the 1630kb .admx file returned.

So now the question is, why does Microsoft have two different versions of this file?   Why would the 1630kb size file work fine on one server in the same customer environment, but not on the other?  Why did the 1632kb file from an isolated lab environment work instead?

Posted from Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.