How to Disable Task Manager – 5 Ways

The Windows operating system has a built-in tool “Task Manager” (Windows Task Manager), which is designed to inform the user about running processes and programs, to change the state of the computer software, for example, to start or stop running tasks. This tool allows you to monitor and administer the operation of a system or applications.

In some cases, the user needs to find the answer to the question of how to disable the Task Manager on a computer running the Windows operating system. For example, on this PC, it was necessary to limit the potential of the user so that he could not influence the functioning of running programs or processes running in the background.

Why is Task Manager disabled on some PCs? A computer administrator restricts a standard user’s access to Task Manager features for security reasons.

As a result, some applications will be constantly running on the PC that a user with normal rights cannot disable. This approach is relevant for educational institutions, it can be used to limit the ability to influence the system for inexperienced family members or in other situations.

The administrator can enable or disable the Task Manager using the built-in tools of the Windows operating system. As a result of blocking the system application, a normal user will not be able to open the Task Manager from the Taskbar, using the keyboard shortcuts “Ctrl” + “Alt” + “Del”, “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “Esc” or in another way.

In this guide, you will find instructions on how to disable the Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (Windows 8), Windows 7 Task Manager in various ways using built-in system tools or specially crafted files.

How to disable Windows Task Manager by changing group policies

First, consider one of the simplest options designed to disable the task manager. This method can be used on older versions of Windows – Enterprise, Professional, Ultimate, or Education.

For home versions of Windows, the use of the Local Group Policy Editor is not provided for security reasons due to the fact that, according to Microsoft, these versions of the OS are used mainly by inexperienced users. If necessary, a more advanced user can use several methods, which you can read about by clicking on the link below, to change this situation.

To solve the problem, we need the help of a system tool – the Windows Local Group Policy Editor.

Go through the following steps:

1. Launch the Local Group Policy Editor on the computer.
2. In the Local Group Policy Editor window that opens, follow the path:

User Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → What to Do After Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL

3. Right-click on the Uninstall Task Manager policy and select Edit from the context menu.
4. In the Uninstall Task Manager window, set the option to Enabled.

 

5. Click on the “OK” button and then restart your computer.

Disable taskmgr using registry editor

A more complicated option is to use the Registry Editor. This method is suitable for any version of Windows.

Do the following:

1. Open the registry editor on your PC in one of the convenient ways.
2. In the “Registry Editor” window, follow the path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

3. If the “Policies” section does not have a “System” section, right-click on the “Policies” section.
4. From the context menu, first select New and then Partition.

 

5. Name it “System”.
6. Right-click on “System”, in the menu that opens on “New”, and then on “DWORD (32-bit) Value”.

 

7. Specify a name for this parameter – “DisableTaskMgr”.
8. Double click on the parameter with the left mouse button.
9. In the “Change DWORD (32-bit) Value” window, in the “Value:” field, insert the number “1”, and then save the changes.
10. Restart your PC.

Disable Task Manager on the command line

In the next method, we use the system tool – the command line. This method works on all versions of the Windows operating system.

Do the following:

1. Start the Windows Command Prompt as administrator .
2. In the command line interpreter window, enter the command, and then press the “Enter” key:

REG add HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

3. Close Command Prompt.
4. Perform a system reboot.

How to disable the task manager in Windows using a .reg file

So that you do not manually create the necessary parameters in the registry editor yourself, use the REG file. A REG file is a text file with a “.reg” extension.

You can create a .reg file yourself to disable the task manager using Notepad or any other test editor.

You will need to do the following:

1. Copy and then paste the following code into Notepad:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000001

2. In the Notepad window, from the File menu, click Save.
3. In the save options window, give the file a name, for example, “disabletaskmanager.reg” and enclose this name in quotation marks – “disabletaskmanager.reg” so that Notepad does not change the file extension “.reg” to “.txt”.
4. In the Save window, click the Save button.
5. Close Notepad, right-click on the created .reg file.
6. In the context menu, perform “Merge”, agree to the use of these parameters.
7. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

How to disable task manager via bat file

You can turn off the Task Manager on your computer using a specially created batch file with the “.bat” extension. Running the BAT file changes the Windows registry and disables the taskmrg.exe application.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Notepad on your computer.
2. Paste the following code into the application window:

REG add HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

3. Enter the “File” menu, click on “Save As …”.
4. In the “Save” window, in the “File type:” field, select “All files”, and in the “File name:” field, assign any name with the “.bat” extension. In this example, the file name is “DisableTaskMgr.bat”.
5. Click on the “Save” button.
6. Run the generated “.bat” file to disable the Task Manager.
7. Restart your computer.

Article Conclusions

On some PCs, it may be necessary to disable the Task Manager for security reasons or to limit the ability of users with normal rights to influence certain system settings. You can solve this problem using the built-in tools of the Windows operating system: local group policy editor, registry editor, command line, specially created – REG file or BAT file.