JSI Tip 10202. When you attempt to open Task Manager on Windows XP, you receive 'Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator'?

The subject behavior will occur if any of the following are true:

- The local administrator set the DisableTaskMgr Value Name to a data value of 1.

- The domain administrator or local administrator disabled Task Manager using Group Policy.

- Malware or a 3rd-party application set the DisableTaskMgr Value Name to a data value of 1.

- The current user does not have permission.

To resolve this issue, an administrator can disable the Group Policy, or filter the Group Policy for the user. If Group Policy didn't set the DisableTaskMgr Value Name to a data value of 1, set it to 0.

NOTE: See How do I 'filter' Local Group Policy?

With the effected user logged off, an administrator can:

1. Open a CMD.EXE window on his computer.

2. Type UserSID \ComputerName UserName.

2. Using REG.EXE, built into Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and later operating systems, or installed from the Windows 2000 Support Tools, type:

REG ADD \ComputerNameHKU%sid%SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem /V DisableTaskMgr /T REG_DWORD /F /D 0

NOTE: To set DisableTaskMgr to 0 for all users of a computer, type the following and restart that computer:

REG ADD \ComputerNameHKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem /V DisableTaskMgr /T REG_DWORD /F /D 0