That's a very common problem for Windows users. Many times when you try to open Task Manager, you find that "Task Manager" option has been grayed out:

Also when you try to run it by typing "taskmgr" in RUN dialog box, Windows shows following error message:
Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.

There might be 2 possible reasons behind this problem:
- Your system administrator applied the restriction using Registry Editor or Group Policy Editor.
- Your system has been infected with virus and it has disabled the Task Manager.
If you are already the Administrator of the system, then your system is most probably infected. You should follow the instructions given in following topic first:
Is Your System Infected with a Virus / Spyware / Adware / Trojan?
Now if your system in not infected or you have successfully removed the virus, then you can follow these simple steps to enable Task Manager again:
1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box or Startmenu Search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor. If Registry editor is also disabled, then follow instructions given in following tutorial:
How to Enable Tools -> Folder Options and Registry Editor in Windows
2. Now go to following keys one by one:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
HKEY_USERS\.default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
and look for a DWORD value "DisableTaskMgr" in right-side pane. If you find it, delete it.

3. That's it. Now Task Manager will be enabled.
PS: If you are not familiar with editing the registry, then you can use ready-made registry script to do the task automatically. Download following ZIP file, extract it and then run the extracted .REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it:
Complete list of AskVG articlesThis article was posted in Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.
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Ben
Thank you so much!
mandeep
THX...IT REALLY HELPED
naresh
get me download link for fixing task manager
fahed
thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks
adlan
My notebooke win xp sp3, When i press Ctrl + Alt+ Deleted massage " Task Manager is disabel by your administration"
When i type Regiedit.exe at run " Regiedit editing is disabel by your administration"
When i Boot and press F8 and select safemode system will restart "cannot go to safe mode "
can anybody help..
k
i also got the regedit disabled - i just followed the other advice even tho i prob had a virus and it worked
thanks
prashant
Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 10:49:17 AM, on 10/2/2009
Platform: Windows 2003 SP2 (WinNT 5.02.3790)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.3790.1830)
Boot mode: Normal
Running processes:
D:\WINDOWS\RTHDCPL.EXE
D:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe
D:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\ctfmon.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0\avp.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit
O2 - BHO: SBCONVERT - {31B27F2D-6BC6-451B-B3D2-4EAB36B2FC3B} - D:\Program Files (x86)\SpeedBit Video Downloader\Toolbar\tbcore3.dll
O2 - BHO: Groove GFS Browser Helper - {72853161-30C5-4D22-B7F9-0BBC1D38A37E} - D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\GRA8E1~1.DLL
O2 - BHO: GrabberObj Class - {FF7C3CF0-4B15-11D1-ABED-709549C10000} - D:\PROGRA~2\SPEEDB~1\Toolbar\grabber.dll
O3 - Toolbar: DAEMON Tools Toolbar - {32099AAC-C132-4136-9E9A-4E364A424E17} - D:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Toolbar\DTToolbar.dll
O3 - Toolbar: SpeedBit Video Downloader - {0329E7D6-6F54-462D-93F6-F5C3118BADF2} - D:\Program Files (x86)\SpeedBit Video Downloader\Toolbar\tbcore3.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [GrooveMonitor] "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\GrooveMonitor.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVP] "D:\Program Files (x86)\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0\avp.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [DAEMON Tools Lite] "D:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe" -autorun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] D:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [tscuninstall] %systemroot%\system32\tscupgrd.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [tscuninstall] %systemroot%\system32\tscupgrd.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [tscuninstall] %systemroot%\system32\tscupgrd.exe (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [tscuninstall] %systemroot%\system32\tscupgrd.exe (User 'Default user')
O7 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System, DisableRegedit=1
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Web Anti-Virus statistics - {1F460357-8A94-4D71-9CA3-AA4ACF32ED8E} - D:\Program Files (x86)\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0\SCIEPlgn.dll
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{2A8D32BF-AB22-4DCF-B9C9-49F7ADC4B233}: NameServer = 10.20.30.40,10.20.30.18
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{BB47E8D8-3096-40A5-8EAF-05F8C0C80AC8}: NameServer = 10.20.30.40 10.20.30.16
O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\..\{2A8D32BF-AB22-4DCF-B9C9-49F7ADC4B233}: NameServer = 10.20.30.40,10.20.30.18
O18 - Protocol: grooveLocalGWS - {88FED34C-F0CA-4636-A375-3CB6248B04CD} - D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\GR99D3~1.DLL
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: avp - Kaspersky Lab - D:\Program Files (x86)\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0\avp.exe
O23 - Service: Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service (dmadmin) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\System32\dmadmin.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Event Log (Eventlog) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: HTTP SSL (HTTPFilter) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service (ImapiService) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\imapi.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Net Logon (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NT LM Security Support Provider (NtLmSsp) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Microsoft Office Diagnostics Service (odserv) - Unknown owner - D:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\ODSERV.EXE (file missing)
O23 - Service: Plug and Play (PlugPlay) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: IPSEC Services (PolicyAgent) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Protected Storage (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (RDSessMgr) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\sessmgr.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Security Accounts Manager (SamSs) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Virtual Disk Service (vds) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\System32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: WMI Performance Adapter (WmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - D:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe (file missing)
--
End of file - 5690 bytes
asif
how to edit windows registry and fix if registry cannnot if we are getting that message
jag
guys before doing any of these changes, backup nad backup. Forget the system restore, use a program which makes an entire image of your disk, I've been using Acronis, and have been happy for years. When I have had an virus on messed with setting and made instable. the regular incremental image backups sort it out. By the way W7 has a image back app built in. Well W7 ultimate has.
raymund nalayog
just download NOOB KILLER by leerz...