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One of the most frustrating things that my users have run into is Malware or Virus infections which lock down the Task Manager, The Control Panel, and your ability to run regedit. In order to defeat this kind of nasty virus you’ll need to use the command line to re-enable your ability to edit your registry and view the task manager and control panel. The specific registry keys involved are listed below:

Enable Registry Edit:
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\System]
Value Name: DisableRegistryTools
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: (0 = disable restriction, 1 = enable restriction)

Enable Control Panel
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
Value Name: NoControlPanel
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = disable restriction, 1 = enable restriction)

Enable Task Manager
Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Name: DisableTaskMgr
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1=Enablethis key, that is DISABLE TaskManager
Value: 0=Disablethis key, that is Don’t Disable, Enable TaskManager

SOLUTION:
Now to simplify this process I’ve written a batch script that enables all of these keys for you.
You can download it from here or you can copy and paste the below text into a command prompt:

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer /v NoControlPanel /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer /v NoControlPanel /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

After running these commands you will have access to your Control Panel, Task Manager, and Regedit again and can continue cleaning your system.

Remember, if you found this helpful

And feel free to leave comments and questions if you have any trouble.