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by John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Disable Access to Windows Registry

October 1, 2019

For those that don't know, the Windows registry is critical to the operation of the Windows operating system. It is a database of stored software configuration, settings, file extensions, etc. Messing around in the Registry can be very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Hence, you may want to prevent a user from making any changes. Tech Viral has instructions to disable access to the Windows registry.

  1. Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run Dialog box
  2. Type gpedit.msc in the Run Dialog box and press Enter
  3. The Local Group Policy Editor will open
  4. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System
  5. Double click on the 'Prevent access to registry editing tools' item
  6. Select the 'Enable' radio button, click 'Apply' and then 'OK'

You have now changed the local group policy to prevent access to the registry. Disabling access to the registry will stop the majority of users. However, there is nothing stopping a user from undoing the group policy settings in order to gain access.

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