How to Enable the Registry Editor (Regedit) if Disabled

This wikiHow article teaches you how to enable access to the Registry Editor on a Windows computer. Whether your Registry Editor has been disabled by an administrator on your school network or a virus is preventing you from opening it, there are a few ways you can bring the Registry Editor back online.

Enable Regedit

If the Registry Editor is disabled, you can enable it in Group Policy Editor if you have permission to do so. In GPE, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System and set "Prevent access to registry editing tools" to "Not configured." Otherwise, try running a virus scan or reinstalling Windows.

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

Using Group Policy Editor

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1
Open Group Policy Editor. If you get an error that says "Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator," an administrator will need to reenable it in the Group Policy Editor. If your Windows account has administrator privileges, you can make this change. Keep in mind that Group Policy Editor is not available in Home editions of Windows—you will need a Pro, Business, or Server edition of Windows to use it. To open Group Policy Editor:
- Press Win + R to open Run.
- Type gpedit.msc into Run.
- Click OK.
2
Navigate to the System folder. Use the following steps to do so:
- Double-click to expand the User Configuration section.
- Open the Administrative Templates folder.
- Open the System folder.
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3
Double-click Prevent access to registry editing tools. You'll find this item on the right side of the window.
- You may have to scroll down to find it.
It's on the left side of the pop-up window.
These are both at the bottom of the window. Doing so should re-enable Registry Editor on your computer. You should now be able to open and use Regedit.

Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

Using Command Prompt

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1
Open the Command Prompt as an administrator
. You can use the Command Prompt (CMD) to enable the Registry Editor with a single command. To do so, you will need to have a Windows account with administrative privileges and run the Command Prompt as an administrator. Use the following steps to do so:
- Click the Windows Start menu.
- Type CMD.
- Right-click the Command Prompt.
- Click Run as administrator.
- Click Yes when prompted.
2
Enter the Registry refresh command. To do so, enter the following command and press Enter:
- reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /t Reg_dword /v DisableRegistryTools /f /d 0
Your command should have re-enabled the Registry Editor.
4
Restart your computer. Open Start, click the Power icon
, and click Restart. Once your computer finishes restarting, you can try opening Registry Editor again.
- If Registry Editor still won't open, you may be able to use a script to force it to open.

Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Using a Visual Basic Script

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1
Open a new Notepad document. Use the following steps to do so:
- Click the Windows Start button.
- Type Notepad.
- Click the blue Notepad icon.
- Click File in the menu bar at the top.
- Click New.

Step 2 Copy the following code into the Notepad document:

    Option Explicit
    Dim WSHShell, n, MyBox, p, t, mustboot, errnum, vers
    Dim enab, disab, jobfunc, itemtype
    Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    p = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\"
    p = p & "DisableRegistryTools"
    itemtype = "REG_DWORD"
    mustboot = "Log off and back on, or restart your pc to" & vbCR & "effect the changes"
    enab = "ENABLED"
    disab = "DISABLED"
    jobfunc = "Registry Editing Tools are now "
    t = "Confirmation"
    Err.Clear
    On Error Resume Next
    n = WSHShell.RegRead (p)
    On Error Goto 0
    errnum = Err.Number
    if errnum <> 0 then
    WSHShell.RegWrite p, 0, itemtype
    End If
    If n = 0 Then
    n = 1
    WSHShell.RegWrite p, n, itemtype
    Mybox = MsgBox(jobfunc & disab & vbCR & mustboot, 4096, t)
    ElseIf n = 1 then
    n = 0<br>
    WSHShell.RegWrite p, n, itemtype
    Mybox = MsgBox(jobfunc & enab & vbCR & mustboot, 4096, t)
    End If

It's in the top-left side of the Notepad window.
Click the Desktop folder on the left side of the Save As window.
Do this in the "File name:" field.
Click the drop-down box next to "Save as type:", then click All Files. This will save your document in the correct file format.
It's in the bottom-right corner of the Save As window. This will create your file.
Click the X in the top-right corner of Notepad to do so.
9
Double-click the VBS file. Doing so will prompt the script to run.
- This script will switch the registry editor's disabled/enabled setting. Do not run it a second time, or the registry editor will be disabled again.

Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

Running a Security Scan

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If your Registry Editor isn't working and you are the administrator, your PC may be infected with a virus or malware. However, it's also possible that third-party antivirus programs (e.g., McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky) can be blocking access to regedit. Because of this, disable all antivirus protection that isn't Windows Defender before continuing.
2
Open Windows Security. Use the following steps to do so:
- Click the Windows Start button.
- Type Windows Security.
- Click Windows Security
- Click Virus & threat protection
3
Click Scan options. It's a link below the Quick scan button in the middle of the page.
- On some versions of Windows Defender, click Advanced scan instead.
Click the circle to the left of "Full scan" at the top of the page if it isn't already filled in.
5
Click Scan now. It's in the middle of the page. Windows Defender will start scanning your computer for malicious software that might be preventing Registry access. This may take a little bit of time.
- If this scan doesn't find anything, repeat the scan with "Windows Defender Offline scan" checked instead of "Full scan" checked.
6
Try to open Registry Editor. If you can't Open Registry Editor you may need to reinstall Windows.
- You may need to restart your computer before you can access Registry Editor after the scan.

Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Reinstalling Windows

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When reinstalling Windows, it's possible you may lose your files and data. Be sure to back up any data and information you need. You can back up your data using an external hard drive, or using a cloud service such OneDrive or Google Drive.
2
Navigate to the reset option. While running a full virus scan may get rid of viruses and malware, it may not fix the damage that has already been done. If you are still not able to open Registry Editor, you may need to reinstall Windows. You can do so from the Windows Settings menu. Use the following steps to get started:
- Click the Windows Start.
- Click the Settings icon.
- Click System (Windows 11) or Update & Security (Windows 10).
- Click Recovery.
- Click Reset PC or Get Started next to "Reset this PC."
It's recommended you click Keep my files to avoid losing your data. However, if this doesn't work, you may need to click Remove everything to completely reformat your computer. In this case, you will lose all your files and data on your computer.
If you have an internet connection, click Cloud Download to download the latest version of Windows from the internet. If you don't have an internet connection, you can click Local reinstall to reinstall Windows from a local file.
For the next couple of pages, you will be presented with the settings you selected. Verify they are correct and follow the prompts.
This will begin the process of reinstalling Windows. This may take a while. Your PC may restart several times during this process.
After you reinstall Windows, you will need to go through the setup process again. Follow the prompts to go through the Windows setup process.

Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

How to Open Regedit

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You can also just click the Start menu if you prefer.
A list of search results will appear.
3
Press ↵ Enter or click Registry Editor. If the Registry Editor prompts you for permission and then opens when you click Yes, you can now use the editor to modify the registry.
- If the Registry Editor doesn't open, you'll need to try another method in this article.

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I enable task manager?

Reyhan Palakka

Community Answer

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc in the same time.

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Both regedit and cmd are disabled, what can I do?

Community Answer

It may be because you do not have administration privileges. Ask your system administrator if it is a work computer, or log into the main account if it's a home PC.

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Question

I changed my install location through regedit from c drive to e drive. After restarting regedit, task manger is not opening, there are some extra downloaded files, and it is showing invalid path. What can I do?

Community Answer

There will be a lot of mis-entries in the registry due to the different applications you have used. Use a registry repair app and restore the registry file.

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Most school and work computers will not let you use the Registry Editor as a matter of policy.

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Warnings

Never edit the registry unless you know exactly what you are doing. A mistake could make your operating system unusable.

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