There are few reasons why Registry Editor gets disabled, and when you
attempt to open Registry Editor when it is disabled, you get a message
box that reads “Registry Editing has been disabled by your
Administrator”. Few Trojans are made specifically to disable registry
editor and few others are made in order not to revoke it from Startup
(CurrentVersion/Run). If you ever up with this problem, be sure to first
check your PC for Viruses/Trojans.
Using Group Policy Editor
This solution does not work for Windows XP Home Users. If you are an XP Home
User, skip to the
Script method. To enable Registry Editor
using Group Policy Editor,
- Open Group Policy Editor by typing ‘gpedit.msc’ in the RUN (Start->Run)
dialog box
- In the Local Group Policy Editor window, expand ‘User
Configuration’ by clicking the button on the left of ‘User Configuration’
- Next, expand ‘Administrative Templates’
- Click on ‘System’
- On the right pane, you should be noticing ‘Prevent access to registry
editing tools’. Double-click it.
- Switch it’s status to either ‘Not Configured’ or ‘Disabled’ (radio
buttons)
- Once done, click OK
Using a VBS script
This is a Visual Basic Script by Doug Knox. The script toggles the state of
DisableRegistryTools DWORD in
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
and you can use this script to disable as well as enable Registry Editor. When
you enable Registry Editor, you’ll have to reboot your PC for changes to take
effect. It’s not mandatory when you disable Registry Editor. The script is
user-friendly and you’ll be prompted when restart is required.
- Download the script
- Execute it
- You’ll prompted if Registry Editor is enabled/disabled
- If required, log off/restart your PC
- Done
Try if Registry Editor works now – Start->Run, type
Regedit and click OK
