In this post we will see how to disable, restrict or prevent access to Registry Editor or Registry Editing Tools using Group Policy Editor or by tweaking the Windows Registry in Windows 8 | 7.
Prevent access to Registry Editor
On a shared computer, you may want to allow registry access to some users. One can always use the Group Policy Editor, which is available only in select versions of Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows Vista or one can tweak the Registry settings to do it.
Prevent access to Registry Editing Tools using GPEDIT
To do so, type gpedit.msc in Windows Start Search Bar and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
Click Open User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System. Now double click
Prevent Access To Registry Editing Tools setting. Set it to
Enabled. Click OK.
This setting disables the Windows registry editor or 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.
However, this process locks out ALL users, including yourself. You may not be able use the registry editor, but you may still use it in silent mode by using the /s switch. To regain access, you have to again revisit Group Policy Object Editor when required, and change the policy to Disabled or Not Configured.
Disable access to Registry Editor using REGEDIT
To do so using the Registry Editor, you must have Administrative rights. Next, ensure that the Users account is an Administrator Account, if not, change it, to it.
Now open Regedit, and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
In the right pane change value of DisableRegistryTools and set it to 1.
Exit.
Change back the account type, in case you had changed it earlier. Having done this, this user will not be able to now run regedit or merge .reg files. If any user tries to edit the Registry, he or she will get the message:
Registry Editing has been disabled by your administrator
