Policy
Prevent access to registry editing tools
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows2000, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2003, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista, WindowsXP
Disables the Windows registry editor Regedit.exe. If you enable this policy setting and the user tries to start Regedit.exe, a message appears explaining that a policy setting prevents the action. If you disable this policy setting or do not configure it, users can run Regedit.exe normally. To prevent users from using other administrative tools, use the "Run only specified Windows applications" policy setting.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
No explicit registry values are set for enabled or disabled states.
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
| Scope | Element | Type | Registry mapping | Constraints & behavior | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User | Disable regedit from running silently? ID DisableRegeditMode | enum | Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System Value name DisableRegistryTools Type REG_DWORD | Options: Yes (2), No (1) |