Disable Task Manager Access in Windows Vista/XP

Pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC or pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL and then selecting Task Manager will load the Task Manager in Windows XP or Vista. Access to the task manager allows a user to do many things including making the system unstable or accessing other controls you may not want them to have. In this guide you’ll learn how to disable Task Manager in Windows XP or Vista.

This guide is included as part of the Windows Guides security and administration series. Please visit the main page if you would like to learn why this guide may be useful.

Please Note: This guide involves the use of the Group Policy Editor, which is not included with Vista Home Premium/Basic or Windows XP Home. There is a workaround using the registry editor included. Please follow this workaround if you use any of the above operating systems. If this is the first time you are using the Group Policy Editor, read this guide.

If you choose to work with the Windows Registry and this is your first time doing so, please read this guide to get you started.

Disable the Task Manager using Group Policy Editor

• Start Group Policy Editor (Start > Run > “gpedit.msc”)
• In the left panel, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl+Alt+Del Options
• In the right panel, enable Remove Task Manager

Disable the Task Manager using the Windows Registry Editor

• Start Registry Editor (Start > Run > “regedit”)
• Disable Current User: In the left panel, navigate to
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system
• Disable All Users: In the left panel, navigate to
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system
• Create a new DWORD value named DisableTaskMgr
• Set the value to 1 to disable Task Manager
• Set the value to 0 to re-enable Task Manager

In order for this to take effect, you may need to restart your system.

What Next?

• Disable Add/Remove Programs Access in Windows Vista/XP
• Make your Computer Boot Faster with Startup Delayer
• Encrypt Your Files from the Right-click Menu in Vista
• Disable Internet Access in Windows Vista/XP
• 10 Ways To Improve Performance in Windows XP