How to enable Regedit when disabled by Administrator?

How to enable Regedit when disabled by Administrator?

Did you happen to have a virus attack prior to this? Many times, a virus, Trojan or spyware usually disabled Registry Editor. Are you using a computer owned by a workgroup or office computer?

Sometimes the computer Administrator put a restriction on using this feature to keep their employees from changing things and settings.  If this is the case, better consult the Administrator first.

However, if you are the using a personal computer or the Administrator of your own PC, there are steps and methods to follow to enable your Registry Editor again. 

Method 1. Enable Registry Editor by using VBScript.

• Download Registry tools VBScript on Doug Knox (the one who created a VBScript to enable or disable the Registry Editor) page. He wrote a Visual Basic Script to do this:

             HKey_Current_UserSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem

             If this didn’t fix the issue try Method 2.

Method 2. Rename regedit.com to regedit.exe

• If your computers have been attacked by a virus or malware, they will load regedit.com that is many times a zero byte dummy or fake file.  So if you type regedit in the run line, it will run the regedit.com instead of regedit.exe file.

              Delete the regedit.com to have access again to regedit.exe

Method 3. Windows XP Pro and Group Policy Editor

If you are running Windows XP Professional and can access it as the Administrator, you can have access to change the registry editor options in the Group Policy Editor.

1. Click Start and then Run

2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter

3. Go to the following:

          User Configuration

          Administrative Templates

          System

4. Find the option Prevent Access to Registry Editing Tools on the settings window.

5. If you find it, double-click it to change and then select Disabled or Not Configured and then click OK

6. Restart your computer

7. Try to open the Registry Editor again.