But if the task manager is inaccessible and instead shows you the error message “Task Manager Has Been Disabled by Your Administrator”, an administrator has most probably disabled it in the group policy editor. However, a virus or malware could also cause this specific error. In this article, we have mentioned various ways to enable the task manager and eliminate the above error message.
Enable Task Manager in the Group Policy Editor
As the error speaks for itself, if an administrator has disabled the task manager, you could face issues opening the task manager and get the above error message. However, you can configure the Local Group Policy Editor to re-enable the task manager. You can follow the steps below to do so.
Scan Your System for Viruses
If your system is infected with some kind of virus/malware, they could prevent the task manager from opening. So, to regain access to the task manager and resolve the error message, you need to perform a virus scan. Here’s how you can scan your system on Windows. Additionally, you can boot into the safe mode and scan the system to remove viruses and malware. After doing so, start your system normally (without safe mode) and check if the task manager issue is solved. If you can’t find the Scan options, you likely have another third-party antivirus installed on your system. So, you can use it instead of the system’s default antivirus to scan and remove the viruses on your system.
Tweak the Registry Setting
If enabling the task manager in group policy didn’t work, you need to change the relevant registry setting. But since making registry changes haphazardly can break your system, you should do it with caution. You can backup your registry before making any changes to be on the safe side. To backup your registry settings, After creating a backup, you can continue making registry changes. You can do it as follows. In case your computer is a part of a domain, you need to set the value of DisableTaskMgr to 0 inside the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.
Running the Registry Merge File
If you don’t want to change the registry settings manually, you can create a registry merge file. Then, you can run the file to overwrite your previous registry settings automatically and enable the task manager. Here’s how to do it. Alternatively, you can use the command prompt to make registry changes as follows.