List of All Kinds of Restrictions for Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008 and 7

Many times people access our system and change our customized settings here and there. Wouldn't it be great if we can restrict them to change the settings and other things like restrict from changing Folder Options, Taskbar settings, Desktop settings, etc.

Today in this tutorial, we'll share a list of some important and useful restrictions, which can be put in Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008 and 7.

STEP 1: Open Registry Editor

All restrictions are based on Registry editing. So you'll need to open Registry Editor by providing regedit command in RUN or Start menu Search box and press Enter. After that go to the registry key mentioned in step 2.

STEP 2: Create Registry Key

Once you are in Registry Editor. Go to following keys and create or modify required DWORD value as mentioned below:

1. Restricting Desktop Properties

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoDispCPL and set its value to 1

If you want to restrict any particular tab in Desktop Properties like Themes, Screen Saver, etc, you can take help of following tutorial:

How to Enable / Disable Changing Themes, Wallpapers, Screen Savers and Other Settings

2. Restricting Taskbar Properties

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoSetTaskbar and set its value to 1

3. Restricting System Properties

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoPropertiesMyComputer and set its value to 1

4. Restricting Folder Options

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoFolderOptions and set its value to 1

5. Restricting Registry Editor

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD DisableRegistryTools and set its value to 1

6. Restricting Task Manager

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD DisableTaskMgr and set its value to 1

7. Restricting Control Panel

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoControlPanel and set its value to 1

Also check following tutorial:

How to Hide / Show Specific Control Panel Applets / Icons in Windows?

8. Restricting Command Prompt

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD DisableCMD and set its value to 2

9. Restricting Locking/Unlocking of Taskbar

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD LockTaskbar and set its value to 1

10. Restricting right-click on Taskbar

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoTrayContextMenu and set its value to 1

11. Restricting Toolbars in Taskbar

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoToolbarsOnTaskbar and set its value to 1

12. Restricting drag-and-drop and right-click in Start Menu

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoChangeStartMenu and set its value to 1

13. Restricting RUN in Start Menu

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoRun and set its value to 1

14. Restricting Shut Down, Restart, Sleep and Hibernate commands

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoClose and set its value to 1

15. Restricting Log off in Start Menu

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD StartMenuLogOff and set its value to 1

16. Restricting Active Desktop Feature

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoActiveDesktop and set its value to 1

17. Restricting adding/removing items to/from Toolbars

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoToolbarCustomize and set its value to 1

18. Restricting adding/removing Toolbars

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoBandCustomize and set its value to 1

19. Restricting Autorun Feature

Visit following tutorial:

How to Disable Autorun Functionality in Windows Using Registry Editor?

20. Restricting notification at low disk space

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD NoLowDiskSpaceChecks and set its value to 1

21. Restricting Writing to USB Drives

Go to following key:

Create new DWORD WriteProtect and set its value to 1

Also check following tutorial:

How to Disable / Restrict Use of USB Storage Devices in Windows?

22. Restricting "New" option in context menu

Go to following key:

And delete the value of Default, e.g., empty it.

23. Restricting "Send To" option in context menu

Go to following key:

And delete the value of Default, e.g., empty it.

24. Restricting any desired application

Go to following key:

Create new String value with any name, like 1 and set its value to the desired program's EXE file.

e.g., If you want to restrict msconfig, then create a String value 1 and set its value to msconfig.exe. If you want to restrict more programs, simply create more String values with names 2, 3 and so on and set their values to the program's exe file.

25. Restricting Drives in My Computer

Go to following key:

In right-side pane, create new DWORD NoViewOnDrive and change its value as following:

If you want more specific restrictions, like you want to restrict a combination of drives, you can use decimal no. instead of hexadecimal no. Following is a list for all drives decimal no.:

So if you want to disable a combination of drives, just sum their numbers and give the same value to NoViewOnDrive. e.g., for restricting C, D, E and F drives, give the value: 4+8+16+32 = 60

NOTE: You can also hide the drives using NoDrives DWORD value. The location and its value remain same as the above trick.

That's all. Above are some common restrictions, if you want to know about any specific restriction, please let us know.

NOTE: If you want to remove the restriction, simply delete the DWORD or set its value to 0

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This article was posted in PC Security, Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

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178 Comments

Yogesh Sharma

What is different between core 2 duo or core 2 quad? Which one is better? and why?
Sarv

i was following step #21 and it worked perfectly. but the problem is that it won't allow even me (admin) to access it. i only wanted to block it for other users. is there a way to bypass this?
Sarv

nvm. i figured it out that i've to login to that particular user account 1st

thx
Samir

i think i messed up!! i blocked the registry editor by mistake. how do i reverse it?
VG

^^ No problem. Follow this:

How to Enable Tools -> Folder Options and Registry Editor in Windows
rakesh

my computer date not changing and my computer is restricted.
VG

^^ Seems a virus problem. Pls go through "Is your system infected" topic in "Troubleshooting" section.
benoy

i have tried ur solution for not showing my documents during starting windows
but when i was starting two my documetns windows will come earlier but after applying ur solution one is coming again each time
Xmen

if i use any of above restriction then how can i restore it?
VG

^^ Simply by editing their value to "0".

List of All Kinds of Restrictions for Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008 and 7

This article was posted in PC Security, Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

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