Two easy methods to disable the Task Manager

Jul 17, 2018 12:05 GMT  ·  By

The Windows Task Manager is a key feature of the operating system, and Microsoft itself has tried to further refine it in the most recent Windows 10 updates.

Even though it wasn’t updated in a significant manner, it continues to be an essential tool for both home users and IT pros as it provides valuable information on resource usage and running processes.

On the other hand, using Task Manager isn’t the kind of thing that everyone wants and can do, and beginners should rather stay away from it, especially because altering some settings and changing the default configuration of certain processes could dramatically impact system performance.

By default, however, Task Manager is available to every user running Windows, and despite this tool getting several improvements in Windows 10, there’s still no option to easily disable access to it. This means that anyone without the skills to change default settings can easily launch Task Manager and make modifications that would eventually affect system performance.

Just think of how important it is to block access to the Task Manager in the case of old users or beginners who barely know how to install apps. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, but unfortunately, there’s no easy way for IT admins to prevent users from launching Task Manager.

Fortunately, there are two different ways to block Task Manager on a Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and the second works only on Pro SKUs. Read on to find out how to use them.

Windows 10 Task Manager

On Windows 10 Home

Blocking access to the Windows 10 Task Manager can be done quickly from the Registry Editor with a dedicated key that disables this feature.

Needless to say, an administrator account is required because otherwise you won’t be able to make changes to the system registry.

Launch the Registry Editor by pressing Win key + R and then by typing regedit. Navigate to the following path in the Registry Editor:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System If it does not exist, you need to manually create every single location by right-clicking the root folder and hitting New > Key and using the names in the path above.

Once you reach the aforementioned location, you need to create a new DWORD value called DisableTaskMgr. Right-click the right pane and go to New > DWORD 32-bit. Enter the name DisableTaskMgr and click OK.

Next, you need to change its value. By default, newly-created entries are given value 0, which means they are disabled. Changing it to 1 means that you enable the key, so do this for DisableTaskMgr. Double-click it and enter value 1. The next time you right-click the taskbar, you’ll discover that the Task Manager option is greyed out, while pressing CTRL + Alt + Del brings up a menu that does not include Task Manager.

Windows 10 Task Manager disabled

On Windows 10 Pro

If you’re running the Pro SKU, you can easily restrict access to the Task Manager with the help of a dedicated policy added just for this purpose.

In this case, what you need to do is press Windows key + R and type gpedit.msc. Navigate to the following path in the Group Policy Editor:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl + Alt + Del Options A policy called Remove Task Manager should be listed in the right side of the screen, and by default, it is set to Not Configured. Double-click this policy and set it to Enabled.

Once you hit the OK button, you should notice that the Task Manager option becomes greyed out when right-clicking the taskbar and it is removed from the Ctrl + Alt + Del menu as well.

Enabling this policy has basically the same result as the aforementioned registry setting. To re-enable Task Manager using the Group Policy Editor, just follow the aforementioned steps and set the policy to Not Configured or to Disabled.

No reboot is required in either case, and reverting changes can be made by following the same steps and restoring the original configuration.

Windows 10 Task Manager policy in the Group Policy Editor

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