Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7

If you share a computer for everyone in your family or friends, but don't want people to interfere with important settings, you may want to disable the Control Panel feature on your computer.

In the article below, Network Administrator will show you how to disable Control Panel on Windows 7.

1. Disable Control Panel with Group Policy

To disable Control Panel on Windows 7 using Group Policy, first on the Start Menu, type gpedit.msc into the Search box and press Enter.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 1

When the Local Group Policy Editor window opens, navigate to the following: User Configuration Administrative Templates and then select the Cotrol Panel in the left pane.

Next in the right pane, double-click the Prohibit option to access the Control Panel .

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 2

On the next window, select Enable , then click OK to close the Local Group Policy Editor window.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 3

After Control Panel is disabled, on the Start Menu you will no longer see the Control Panel on the Start Menu.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 4

If you find the Control Panel on the Search frame you will get a message like the one below:

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 5

2. Disable Control Panel with Registry Tweak

You can disable Control Panel with Registry Tweak. However, this only works on Windows7, Vista and Windows XP versions.

First on the Start Menu, type the keyword regedit into the Search box and press Enter.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 6

In the Registry Editor window, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionPoliciesExplorer.

From Explorer, right-click any space in the right pane, select New> DWORD (32-bit) Value to create a new key.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 7

Name this key NoControlPanel.

Then right-click this new key and select Modify .

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 8

In the Value data frame, change the value to 1 and then click OK. Close the Registry Editor window then restart your computer to complete the process.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 9

After your computer has finished booting, you will now see the Control Panel no longer appear on the Start Menu.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 10

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 11

If you find the Control Panel on the Search frame you will get a message like the one below:

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 12

If you want to re-enable Control Panel, go back to the Registry, change the value in NoControlPanel to 0 and then restart your computer.

Instructions to disable Control Panel on Windows 7 Picture 13

You can refer to some of the following articles:

1. Instructions to divide and merge drives right in Windows 7

2. 4 Ways to Reset Windows to its original state

3. Get all 4GB of RAM on Windows 7 32-bit

Good luck!