Windows 8: How can I disable Control Panel in Windows 7

How to disable control panel in windows 7 computer

Some times if you have a computer that is shared among your friends and family and you do not want them to access the control panel, it is possible to disable control panel in Windows 7. Let us see how we can disable access to control panel.

There are two methods for disabling the control panel in windows 7. One method is disabling control panel using group policy and the second method is by using registry.

Disable control panel with group policy in windows 7

The process of disabling control panel with group policy uses the local group policy editor which is unavailable in Home edition of windows 7.

1. First you should type 'gpedit.msc' in the search box in the start menu and press Enter.
2. Now the local group policy editors opens up. Go to User Configuration/ Administrative templates and then select Control panel in the left column. Double click on 'Prohibit access to control panel' in the right column.
3. Select 'enabled' radio button in the next window and click on OK. Close the Local group policy editor.
4. Once the Control Panel is disabled, you will not see it in the list in the Start menu.
5. If any user tries to type Control Panel in the search box in the start menu, he will get a message indicating that it is restricted.

Disable control panel using Registry in windows 7

Now let us see how we can disable control panel using registry. You can disable control panel using registry also. This works in all versions of Windows 7. It is advisable to create a restore point before making any changes to the registry.

1. Type 'regedit' into the Search box in the Start menu and hit Enter.
2. Now you should navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer in the registry editor. Now right click in the right pane and create a new DWORD value.
3. Name the value of this DWORD to NoControlPanel. Now right click on the new value and click 'Modify'.
4. Change the value to '1' in the value data field and click on OK. Close the registry editor and restart your windows 7 computer.
5. Once you reboot your windows 7 computer, you will not see control panel listed in the start menu.

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