How to Disable Task Manager in Windows Using the Registry Editor (regedit)

To disable Task Manager for a specific user using the Registry Editor, follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type "regedit" and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
3. In the left-hand pane of the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_USERS[USER_SID]\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Replace [USER_SID] with the SID (Security Identifier) of the user for whom you want to disable Task Manager. You can find the SID of a user by opening an elevated command prompt and typing the following command:

wmic useraccount get name,sid

This will display a list of all user accounts on the system and their SIDs.

4. In the right-hand pane, right-click and select "New > DWORD (32-bit) Value".

5. Name the new value "DisableTaskMgr" and press Enter.

6. Double-click on the new "DisableTaskMgr" value to open the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box.

7. In the Value data field, type "1" and click OK.

This will disable Task Manager for the specified user. To re-enable it, follow the same steps and set the Value data to "0".

Warning: Modifying the Windows Registry can be dangerous and is not recommended for inexperienced users. Incorrectly editing the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Before making any changes to the registry, make sure to back up the registry and create a restore point.

It is also worth noting that disabling Task Manager through the Registry is not the only way to do so. Task Manager can also be disabled using Group Policy, System Configuration (msconfig), or through third-party software. However, these methods may not be available on all versions of Windows or may require additional configuration.


How to find SID (Security Identifier)

To find the SID (Security Identifier) of a user in Windows, follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type "cmd" and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open an elevated command prompt.
3. At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

wmic useraccount get name,sid

This will display a list of all user accounts on the system, along with their SIDs. The SID is a unique identifier for each user account and is used by Windows to manage access to resources.

For example, the output of the above command might look something like this:

Name                  SID

John Smith      S-1-5-21-1123546788-1234567890-1234567891-1000
Jane Doe         S-1-5-21-1123546788-1234567890-1234567891-1001

In this example, the SID for the "John Smith" user account is "S-1-5-21-1123546788-1234567890-1234567891-1000", and the SID for the "Jane Doe" user account is "S-1-5-21-1123546788-1234567890-1234567891-1001".

Once you have the SID of the user for whom you want to disable Task Manager, you can use it to navigate to the correct key in the Registry.
For example, to disable Task Manager for the "John Smith" user, you would navigate to the following key:

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1123546788-1234567890-1234567891-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Then, you can create the "DisableTaskMgr" value as described in my previous message