How to disable control panel in Windows 7

Sometimes turning off the control panel is a good choice particularly when the Windows 7 PC is used by more than  one user and you do not want anything to be reconfigured.

The trick to disable the control panel in Windows 7 is very easy, just follow these steps:

This first method is for Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional users. Group Policy Editor does not exist lower than these versions of Windows 7. If you are Windows 7 Home (or lower) user, skip this and follow the second method.

Click the Start button , type  gpedit.msc in Start menu search field and hit Enter key from keyboard:

Local Group Policy Editor will open.

In the window that opens click User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel in the  left sided panel:

Now double-click Prohibit access to the Control Panel option in the left hand pane:

Upon double click a Window will open and choose the option Enabled and save the changes:

Control Panel will disappear from everywhere in your Windows 7 PC.
Note: To re-enable access to the control panel you must follow the steps above, but in step 6 again choose Disabled or Not Configured and save the changes.

No restart is required for any steps.

Group Policy Editor does not exist in Windows 7 Home Premium or lower. If you are Windows 7 Home (or lower) user, use this method.

Click the Start button , type regedit in Start menu search field and hit Enter key from keyboard:

Accept the security prompt and Windows Registry Editor will open.

Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Right click on the right handed pane and New > 32 Bit Dword value:

Name it as NoControlPanel and set the Hexadecimal value to 1 after double clicking:

Click OK and Exit Regedit.

Incoming search terms:

Visitors Read This Post Also Read:

1. Disable right click on the taskbar in Windows 7 As a security measure, you may want to restrict users not to get the right...
2. Disable right click on the desktop and explorer in Windows 7 As a security measure, you may want to restrict users not to get the right...
3. Disable access to Windows Task Manager in Windows 7 The Windows Task Manager is accessible by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del, can be...
4. Add Registry Editor in Windows 7 Control Panel By default, Registry editor is absent in Microsoft windows 7 Control Panel. After following the tutorial,...
5. Turn off caching of thumbnail in Windows 7 Home Premium This tutorial is an extension of the tutorial we wrote ago: Disable and delete the...
6. Pin any folder or control panel on the taskbar in Windows 7 In earlier posts, we have discussed how you can pin any drive on the...
7. Disable and delete the thumbs.db files in Windows 7 The utility thumbs.db files   Thumbs.db files represent the outline of the contents of a...
8. Prevent running specified programs and applications in Windows 7 You might want to prevent or restrict users certain not to use some specific programs...
9. How to disable file indexing in Windows 7 What is more annoying when you open a folder containing many multimedia files, having to...
10. Change the folder icons in left side of explorer pane in Windows 7 After following this tutorial, you will be able to change the default yellow colored folders...
11. How to remove “Pin to Start Menu” in right click context menu in Windows 7 In earlier tutorial, we have shown, how to remove “Pin to Taskbar” from right...
12. Disable Windows 7 from always showing content thumbnails inside the folders Yesterday renowned theme creator Sergio Garcia was asking me how he can disable the thumbnail...
13. How to prevent Windows 7 from automatic restart after installing updates After installing the updates, Windows 7 gives alert to have a restart to take the...
14. How to remove “Pin to Taskbar” in right click context menu in Windows 7 Some users do not need the option “Pin to taskbar” in right click context...
15. Restore Windows Aurora Screensaver with all settings in Windows 7 Aurora screensaver is by default absent in Windows 7, here is a complete tutorial on...