How to Fix “Task Manager has been Disabled by Your Administrator”?



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:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v374/vishaal_here/Task_Manager_Disabled_1.jpg

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.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v374/vishaal_here/Task_Manager_Disabled_2.jpg

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.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v374/vishaal_here/Enable_Task_Manager.jpg

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:

Enable Task Manager



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

Subscribe to RSS Feed | Email Newsletter | More Articles

Related Articles

Popular Articles



28 Comments

  • Thank you so much!

  • THX...IT REALLY HELPED

  • get me download link for fixing task manager

  • thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks

  • 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..

  • i also got the regedit disabled - i just followed the other advice even tho i prob had a virus and it worked

    thanks

  • 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

  • how to edit windows registry and fix if registry cannnot if we are getting that message

Add a Comment

NOTE: If you can't see your comment, please be patient. It'll appear as soon as we approve it.


Create an avatar that will appear with your comment.