How can I disable "Lock Workstation" when I press Ctrl-Alt-Del?

John Savill

May 27, 2000

1 Min Read
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A. Service Pack 4 introduces a new registry entry.

  1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe)

  2. Move toHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem

  3. From the Edit menu select New - DWORD value

  4. Enter a name of DisableLockWorkstation and press Enter

  5. Double click on the new value and set to 1. Click OK

  6. Close the registry editor

Lock Workstation will now be greyed out.

This is also possible if you don't mind hacking one of the system dll files.The file that the ctrl-alt-del dialog is stored in is msgina.dll. Using any32bit resource editor (such as one with a Win32 C++ compiler, Visual C++,Borland C++) you can edit this dll and remove the "Lock Workstation"button. Below are instructions for performing this with Visual C++ however foranother resource editor find dialog #1650 and edit the attributes of the"Lock Workstation" to "inactive" or "invisible".

  1. Rename %systemroot%system32msgina.dll to msgina_orig.dll (this is so youhave a backup)

  2. Copy the file back to be called msgina.dll
    e.g. copy d:winntsystem32msgina_orig.dlld:winntsystem32msgina.dll

  3. Start Visual C++, and select open

  4. Change the type to Executable Files (.dll, .exe, .ocx)

  5. Move to the %systemroot%system32 directory and select msgina.dll and clickOK

  6. Once open, click on the dialog tree, and double click 1650

  7. Double click on the "Lock Workstation" button and deselect"visible"

  8. Close the dialog box and the from the file menu select Save

  9. Exit Visual C++ and reboot the machine

  10. Once the machine has booted up again the "Lock Workstation"button will no longer be displayed

There is now a utility written by Alaxander Frink which automates the aboveprocess available at http://www.barrett.com.au/Software/WindowsNT/index.html

About the Author

John Savill

John Savill

https://savilltech.net

See more from John Savill
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