NW Doc

Some important and useful restrictions, which can be put in Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008 and 7.

A. Open Registry Editor

To open Registry Editor by providing regedit command in RUN or Start menu Search box and press Enter.

B. Create Registry Key

Go to following keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System

1. Restricting Desktop Properties

Create or modify required DWORD value: NoDispCPL and set its value to 1

2. Restricting Task Manager

Create new DWORD DisableTaskMgr and set its value to 1

3. Restricting Registry Editor

Create new DWORD DisableRegistryTools and set its value to 1

Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

4. Restricting Taskbar Properties

Create new DWORD NoSetTaskbar and set its value to 1

5. Restricting System Properties

Create new DWORD NoPropertiesMyComputer and set its value to 1

6. Restricting Folder Options

Create new DWORD NoFolderOptions and set its value to 1

7. Restricting Control Panel

Create new DWORD NoControlPanel and set its value to 1

8. Restricting Locking/Unlocking of Taskbar

Create new DWORD LockTaskbar and set its value to 1

9. Restricting right-click on Taskbar

Create new DWORD NoTrayContextMenu and set its value to 1

10. Restricting Toolbars in Taskbar

Create new DWORD NoToolbarsOnTaskbar and set its value to 1

11. Restricting drag-and-drop and right-click in Start Menu

Create new DWORD NoChangeStartMenu and set its value to 1

12. Restricting RUN in Start Menu

Create new DWORD NoRun and set its value to 1

13. Restricting Shut Down, Restart, Sleep and Hibernate commands

Create new DWORD NoClose and set its value to 1

14. Restricting Log off in Start Menu

Create new DWORD StartMenuLogOff and set its value to 1

15. Restricting Active Desktop Feature

Create new DWORD NoActiveDesktop and set its value to 1

16. Restricting adding/removing items to/from Toolbars

Create new DWORD NoToolbarCustomize and set its value to 1

17. Restricting adding/removing Toolbars

Create new DWORD NoBandCustomize and set its value to 1

18. Restricting notification at low disk space

Create new DWORD NoLowDiskSpaceChecks and set its value to 1

19. Restricting Command Prompt

Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System

Create new DWORD DisableCMD and set its value to 2

20. Restricting Writing to USB Drives

Go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current Control Set\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Create new DWORD WriteProtect and set its value to 1

21. Restricting "New" option in context menu

Go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenu Handlers\New

And delete the value of Default, e.g., empty it.

22. Restricting "Send To" option in context menu

Go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenu Handlers\Send To

And delete the value of Default, e.g., empty it.

23. Restricting any desired application

Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer\DisallowRun

Create new String value with any name, like 1 and set its value to the desired program's EXE file.

e.g., If you want to restrict msconfig, then create a String value 1 and set its value to msconfig.exe. If you want to restrict more programs, simply create more String values with names 2, 3 and so on and set their values to the program's exe file.

24. Restricting Drives in My Computer

Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

In right-side pane, create new DWORD NoViewOnDrive and change its value as following:

3 : To Restrict A and B drives only.
4 : To Restrict C drive only.
7 : To Restrict A, B, and C drives only.
8 : To Restrict D drive only.
F : To Restrict A, B, C, and D drives only.
03FFFFFF : To Restrict all drives.

If you want more specific restrictions, like you want to restrict a combination of drives, you can use decimal no. instead of hexadecimal no. Following is a list for all drives decimal no.:

A: 1
B: 2
C: 4
D: 8
E: 16
F: 32
G: 64
H: 128
I: 256
J: 512
K: 1024
L: 2048
M: 4096
N: 8192
O: 16384
P: 32768
Q: 65536
R: 131072
S: 262144
T: 524288
U: 1048576
V: 2097152
W: 4194304
X: 8388608
Y: 16777216
Z: 33554432
ALL: 67108863

*So if you want to disable a combination of drives, just sum their numbers and give the same value to NoViewOnDrive. e.g., for restricting C, D, E and F drives, give the value: 4+8+16+32 = 60

*You can also hide the drives using NoDrives DWORD value. The location and its value remain same as the above trick.

*If you want to remove the restriction, simply delete the DWORD or set its value to 0