Two different methods to prevent settings from being changed

Sep 13, 2018 09:39 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into migrating the classic Control Panel to the Settings app, but this process happens gradually, so in Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) both will continue to be available.

Needless to say, Windows 10 Settings is one of the most important parts of the operating system, mostly because any changes that you make here can affect how the computer works.

And while Microsoft is working to provide users with more control over the operating system by adding new features, the Settings app can also be a double-edged sword on systems were beginners don’t know exactly what they do.

There are several reasons to restrict access to the Settings app and to Control Panel, and IT admins know this the best, as this could allow them to keep computers in tip-top shape by not allowing unauthorized configuration changes.

Fortunately, this can be done on both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro, only that the method to do it is different on these two OS versions.

Settings in Windows 10 October 2018 Update

Windows 10 Home

While on Windows 10 Pro the whole thing can be done with the Group Policy Editor, this feature does not exist on Windows 10 Home, so the only way to go here is the Registry Editor.

This means that you’re going to manually create a policy in the registry to restrict access to Settings and Control Panel, and you’re going to need an administrator account.

Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit either in the Start menu or in the run dialog that opens when pressing the Windows key + R. Navigate to the following location in the Registry Editor (note that in Windows 10 April 2018 Update in newer, there’s an address bar in the app, and you can just copy and paste the full path):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer On the right side of the screen, right-click in an empty area and go to New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value NoControlPanel and hit OK. Double-click NoControlPanel to change its default value from 0 to 1. Just close the Registry Editor and you’re done, with changes being applied immediately.

To return to the original configuration, just delete the new value entirely or change its settings to 0.

Blocking Settings using the Registry Editor

Windows 10 Pro

While you can use the Registry Editor hack on Windows 10 Pro, users on this particular SKU can also turn to the Group Policy Editor for an easier-to-implement restriction.

In this case, what you need to do is to launch the Group Policy Editor by typing gpedit.msc in the Start menu or in the same run dialog that opens when pressing Windows key + R.

This time, you need to navigate to the following path in the policy editor:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel On the right side of the screen, there’s a policy called “Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings” and you need to double-click it to change the default configuration.

If this policy has never been modified before, it should be set to Not Configured, so you have to switch it to Enabled. Returning to the original configuration can be done by going back to Not Configured or to Disabled.

Enabling the policy will remove Control Panel from both File Explorer and other parts of the OS, while the Settings shortcut will be gone even from search results.

Whenever the restriction is in place, trying to open Settings or Control Panel will be blocked with a message that reads “The operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.”

Blocking Settings using the Group Policy Editor

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Control Panel in Windows 10 October 2018 Update
Settings in Windows 10 October 2018 UpdateBlocking Settings using the Registry Editor
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