Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Task manager can be disabled manually, but more commonly it's disabled by a virus. It's easy to re-enable once you're virus-free.
My task manager has a "task manager has been disabled by the administrator" message. How did this happen and how can I correct this?
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Why: if you didn't do it yourself, the news isn't good.
How to fix it: there are a couple of ways.
Let's look at this more closely.
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The situation's pretty simple. If you right click on the clock in the Windows taskbar, the Task Manager item is grayed out:
Or, if you try to run taskmgr.exe manually, you get this message:
So, how did this happen?
As we'll see in a moment, there are settings you can access as an administrator that would allow you to disable and enable Task Manager in this way.
You didn't do that, you say?
Then a virus probably did.
Disabling Task Manager is one way viruses try to make it harder for you to deal with their infections. Before proceeding any further, you should run a complete and up-to-date anti-virus scan of your machine. It's possible, perhaps even likely, that you've been infected.
Once you come back virus-free, you can proceed with the fix.
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If you have Windows XP Pro, there's a nifty user interface to directly edit the setting you want to repair. Click Start, then click Run and type in gpedit.msc:
And press OK. This runs the Group Policy Editor.
Once in the Group Policy Editor, expand in turn:
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User Configuration
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Administrative Templates
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System
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Ctrl+Alt+Del Options
You should see something much like this:
Double click on Remove Task Manager to change its setting:
It should be enough to click on Not Configured and then OK and Task Manager is available once again.
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If you don't have Windows XP Pro, then you'll need to edit the registry manually.
Click Start, then click Run, type in regedit, and click on OK.
Expand these registry keys in turn:
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HKEY_CURRENT_USER
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Software
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Microsoft
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Windows
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CurrentVersion
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Policies
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System
You should see something similar to this:
Right Click on the DisableTaskMgr item:
Click on Delete, confirm that you want to delete, and Task Manager should be available once again.
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One thing to note is that it's quite possible that if you're in an environment managed by a centralized policy, these settings may have no effect. Your IT administrator may set things up so as to disable Task Manager, and other things as well at the domain level. You'll need to ask them if this is the case.
Article C3088 - July 16, 2007
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
thank you so much!
i was so freaked out
Posted by: aric at March 21, 2012 6:01 PMGo to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Adminstrative Tools->Services
Then locate in the list of services "Windows Audio". Open this service
If this service is showing with a Startup type set to Disabled then Select "Automatic" from the drop down list then hit apply. Then click the "Start" button.
If this service is showing with a Startup type set to Manual then Select "Automatic" from the drop down list then hit apply. Then click the "Start" button.
Next Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices then select the Volume Tab then put a tick in the box marked "Place Volume Icon in the Task Bar" then click apply.
With a bit of luck and following wind you should now have your sound restored.
Good luck
Posted by: George at April 3, 2012 9:17 AMThx Man, on win7 all you need 2 do is enable the task manager here: gpedit.msc thats all... but thx again!!
Posted by: john at April 13, 2012 12:08 AMThank you for your helpful expertise and knowledge. Problem solved.
Posted by: Damien at May 12, 2012 4:51 AMThank you, Leo. You offered a quick and easy fix and my task manager is now available.
Posted by: Carla at May 21, 2012 9:56 AM