There are a lot of customization options available on Windows 11 with the Settings app and the Control Panel. With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced the Settings app that can do almost everything that we do with the Control Panel. But still, both Settings and Control Panel are available on Windows 11/10. There might be some special reasons like setting up the PC for your children or some other where you want to disable the Settings and Control Panel on Windows 11/10. This makes things hard to change or alter the settings or customize them. We have some solutions to help you in disabling the Settings and Control Panel in Windows 11/10.
Restrict access to Control Panel & Settings
To disable, prohibit, prevent, or restrict users from accessing the Control Panel & Settings in Windows 11/10 using Group Policy and Regedit, follow these steps:
1] Using Group Policy Editor
If your version of Windows 8 has the Group Policy Editor, Run gpedit.msc to open it. Navigate to the following setting: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel In the right pane of Control Panel, double click/tap on Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings. 2] Using Registry Editor If your version of Windows does not have Group Policy, you can use the Registry Editor to disable access to Control Panel and Settings. To do so, Run regedit and navigate to the following registry key: Current User All Users In the left pane, create a new DWORD (32-bit). Name it NoControlPanel and give it value 1. The following are the possible values and how they work:
0 will enable Control Panel and Settings1 will disable Control Panel and Settings
After you prohibit access to Control Panel and Settings, if any user tries to access them, they will receive the following error box: I hope you are able to get it to work. If you are an IT admin wanting to restrict access to Windows 11/10 Settings page then this post will show you how to configure Windows Settings visibility to hide all or select settings.
How do I turn off Windows Control Panel?
You can turn off Windows Control Panel in two ways. It can be done using Registry Editor or from the Local Group Policy Editor. You just have to find a suitable method and make the necessary changes as shown above.
How do I enable settings disabled by the administrator?
It can be done in the same ways as we disabled them using the Registry Editor and Group Policy Editor. You have to change the DWORD (32-bit) Value to 0 in the Registry Editor or check the box beside Disabled or Not Configured in the Prohibit access to Control Panel and System Settings in the Group Policy Editor. Visit this link, if you want to Hide, Show, Add, Remove Specified Control Panel Applets in the Windows operating system. See this post if your Control Panel will not open.
