Prevent Access to Registry Editing Tools

1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and System, and then click Prevent access to registry editing tools.
3. Click to select one of the following options:
   • Not Configured
   • Enabled
   • Disabled
4. If you clicked Enabled, click Yes or No in the Disable regedit from running silently? box to specify if Registry Editor can be started in silent mode (regedit /s).

When you use Group Policy to configure these options, you create a DisableRegistryTools DWORD entry in the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

To manually configure the registry setting after you install this update, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following subkey in the registry:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\DisableRegistryTools
   
   
   Note If the DisableRegistryTools entry does not exist, you must create the entry. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following subkey in the registry:
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
   2. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
   3. Type System for the name of the key, and then press ENTER.
   4. Click the following subkey in the registry:
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
   5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   6. Type DisableRegistryTools for the name of the DWORD Value, and then press ENTER.
3. Right-click DisableRegistryTools, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type the setting that you want to use from the following table:
   Collapse this tableExpand this table

   Setting	Description
   0	Registry Editor can be started either in interactive mode or in silent mode.
   1	Registry Editor can only be started in silent mode (regedit /s). This is the default behavior in Windows 2000 and in Windows NT 4.0 when the Prevent Access to Registry Editing Tools policy is applied.
   2	Registry Editor cannot be started at all. This is the default behavior in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 when the Prevent Access to Registry Editing Tools policy is applied.

5. Click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.