Disable Task Manager

The following registry hack enables us to disable the Task Manager. Here is a step by step procedure to disable Windows task manager.

Step1: Goto start>run and type “regedit” in the run.

Step2: In the registry navigate to

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

Step 3: Make the changes according to the following data

Value Name: DisableTaskMgr
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable Task Manager)

Step 4: Then navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Step 5: Make the changes according to the following data

Value Name: DisableTaskMgr
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable Task Manager)

Step 6. In the Step 3 and 4, if the values are set to 1 then the Task Manager is disabled. Revert back to 0 in order to enable it back

WARNING: Please Backup your registry before attemting this hack. Changes to registry may lead to system failure.
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13 Comments

  1. ?Anonymous?
    August 27, 2008 at 12:08 AM

    Is there any way to get around this on a computer that also has the ability to run programs including the command prompt taken away?


  2. Srikanth
    August 27, 2008 at 9:02 AM

    yes it’s possible! Even if the command prompt or run is disabled you can access the regedit.

    Goto your windows directory (%windir%)and you will find regedit.exe file over there.Double click this and you will get the “registry editor”.Once you are in registry editor you can follow the above steps and proceed further…



  3. Anonymous
    October 6, 2008 at 7:15 AM

    hiiii i m ayush… can u plz tell me hw to see locked scraps and pics..


  4. boss
    February 14, 2009 at 12:12 PM

    How to enable the task manager

    I do not know how it got disabled !!!


  5. Srikanth
    February 14, 2009 at 10:55 PM

    @ boss

    This is because of virus. Perform a virus scan


  6. Yogesh Pachauri
    February 19, 2009 at 10:52 PM

    hello sir can i creat a executable file which can edit the registry
    when it execute.
    thank’s in advance..
    i know u give me right solution.


  7. Srikanth
    February 19, 2009 at 11:59 PM

    @ Yogesh Pachauri

    Yes it is possible to do it. Just using a simple C program…. :)


  8. Yogesh Pachauri
    February 21, 2009 at 3:45 AM

    plz give me the source code Of simple registry edit program in c…please


  9. DxM
    March 4, 2009 at 10:57 PM

    hi srikanth! i thk the below code may help the readers to enable it through a bat file

    ECHO REGEDIT4 > %WINDIR%\DXM.REG
    echo. >> %WINDIR%\DXM.reg

    echo [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] >> %WINDIR%\DXM.reg
    echo “DisableTaskMgr”=dword:1 >> %WINDIR%\DXM.reg

    echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] >> %WINDIR%\DXM.reg
    echo “DisableTaskMgr”=dword:1 >> %WINDIR%\DXM.reg

    start /w regedit /s %WINDIR%\DXM.reg


  10. Sakura
    July 29, 2009 at 7:31 PM

    Can we do the same thing with gpedit?


  11. Bikalp karn
    December 26, 2009 at 1:23 AM

    HI sir i dont find disable task manager .
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
    Value Name: DisableTaskMgr
    Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
    Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable Task Manager)

    in this address plz tell me.HOw to disable taskmanager


  12. the5thaprilboy
    August 12, 2011 at 10:02 PM

    Nice……… Ur the best Srikanth.


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