How to Enable Regedit

Six Methods:Changing Group Policy SettingsEnabling Regedit through CMDDownloading

Symantec's ScriptChanging Regedit.com FilesEnabling Regedit with a Virtual Basic
ScriptEnabling Regedit from the HKEY settings
In normal situations, administrator accounts should always have access to the Registry Editor on
a Windows computer. If you get a message denying you access, a computer virus has probably
infected your system. Always run an anti-virus scan in this situation. Even after the virus is
removed, however, the change to regedit settings can persist. There are many ways to change
these settings, but some viruses disable access to other tools as well, so you may need to try two
or three options before you succeed.
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Method 1 of 6: Changing Group Policy Settings

1.

1
Install Group Policy Edit if necessary. Users of any "Professional Edition" Windows or
Windows Server can skip this step, as they should already have the file installed. Users of
Windows 7 or Windows 8 "Home," "Home Premium," or "Starter" editions should follow
the instructions here to download a group policy editor before continuing. Unfortunately,
Windows XP Home Edition and Windows Vista Home Edition users may not be able to
work around this issue, and should try an alternate method instead.[1][2]
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2.

2
Launch GPEdit.msc. Click Start Search and type GPEdit.msc into the text field.
Wait for the GPEdit.msc icon to appear, then click it. The window "Local Group Policy
Editor" should appear.
o On XP Professional, instead go to Start Run. Type GPEdit.msc and hit enter
on your keyboard.
o On some operating systems, you will need to be logged in as an administrator to
run this file.

3.

3
Navigate to the correct folder. In this window, look at the folders on the left sidebar.
Choose "User Configuration" "Administrative Templates" "System" to reach the
screen with the options you need.[3]

4.

4
Find the "Prevent access to the registry editor" setting. On the right side of the
window, underneath the "Settings" heading, scroll down to find "Prevent access to the
registry editor." Double click to open it.

5.

5
Check the "Disabled" preference. If the "Enabled" button is checked, click the radio
button for either "Disabled" or "Not Configured," then click "Apply," then "OK."

6.

6
Test regedit, or restart your computer. In most cases, the registry should be accessible
immediately. If not, restart your computer to see if the changes take effect.[4] If there is
still an issue, try the script download instead.

Method 2 of 6: Enabling Regedit through CMD

1.

1
Open cmd.exe. Search for cmd.exe or the "Command Prompt" shortcut and open it. On
Windows XP, instead navigate to Start Run and type in cmd.exe, then hit enter. This
will open the command-line interpreter. Here, depending on the permissions settings on
your system, you may be able to enable Regedit from here.
o You may need to right click the shortcut and select "Run as administrator."

2.

2
Enter this command. Type this in exactly as it appears, then hit Enter on your keyboard
to run the command: R E G a d d
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Sys
tem" /t Reg_dword /v DisableRegistryTools /f /d 0

3.

3
Test regedit or restart Windows. If you still can't access regedit, try restarting your
computer and testing it again.

4.

4
Run the code from a file. If the Run command is disabled too, copy that line of code
into a new Notepad file. Save it as EnableRegistry.bat and close Notepad. Right-click
the file and select "Run as administrator." The command line should flash for a brief
moment, as it runs the code.[5] Test regedit again, or restart your computer.
o On Windows XP, you can open the file normally instead of running as
administrator.

Method 3 of 6: Downloading Symantec's Script

1.

1
Use this tool to reset the shell open command registry keys. One way viruses can gain
control of your system is to modify the "shell open command" values in your registry,
which put the virus in control of certain types of files. This script will reset it to its default
settings.[6]

2.

2
Right click the following link and select Save Link As. Do not left-click this link, or
your browser will display the code instead of downloading it: UnHookExec.inf. In the
popup window, select a location to save the file, then click "OK" or "Save."
o Some browsers may use the term "Save Target As" or a similar phrase.

3.

3
Right click the file and select Install. Locate the file on your computer. Right click it
and select Install from the drop-down menu. This will run the script, even though you
will not see any new notices or windows. Try regedit to see if your problem is solved.

Method 4 of 6: Changing Regedit.com Files

1.

1
Search for "regedit.com" on your computer. Some viruses will add false registry files
named regedit.com to trick your computer into running the wrong file when you use the
Regedit command.
o This is only one way viruses can disable regedit. Scanning your computer with
anti-virus software is recommended even if regedit.com is not on your computer.

2.

2
Check whether it is a real file. Right-click the file and select "Properties." In the info
box that comes up, look for the "File size" line.

3.

3
Delete zero-byte files. If the file size is zero bytes, it is a dummy file. Delete it and you
should have access to regedit again.[7]

4.

4
Rename larger files. If the file has actual content, it may be your original regedit file,
renamed. Rename it back to regedit.exe and access should be restored.[8]

Method 5 of 6: Enabling Regedit with a Virtual Basic Script

1.

1
Open a new Notepad document. We'll use this to make a Virtual Basic Script (.vbs) file,
which will run a program to enable the registry editor.
o This script was written by former Microsoft Valued Professional Doug Knox.[9]

2.

2
Copy the following into the Notepad document. Copy-paste the following into your
text file:[10]
Option Explicit
Dim WSHShell, n, MyBox, p, t, mustboot, errnum, vers
Dim enab, disab, jobfunc, itemtype
Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
p = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\"
p = p & "DisableRegistryTools"
itemtype = "REG_DWORD"
mustboot = "Log off and back on, or restart your pc to" & vbCR & "effect the changes"
enab = "ENABLED"
disab = "DISABLED"
jobfunc = "Registry Editing Tools are now "
t = "Confirmation"

Err.Clear
On Error Resume Next
n = WSHShell.RegRead (p)
On Error Goto 0
errnum = Err.Number
if errnum <> 0 then
WSHShell.RegWrite p, 0, itemtype
End If
If n = 0 Then
n=1
WSHShell.RegWrite p, n, itemtype
Mybox = MsgBox(jobfunc & disab & vbCR & mustboot, 4096, t)
ElseIf n = 1 then
n=0
WSHShell.RegWrite p, n, itemtype
Mybox = MsgBox(jobfunc & enab & vbCR & mustboot, 4096, t)
End If
3.

3
Save the file as "Registry Editor.vbs". Alternatively, saving it as "*.vbs" should work
as well.
4.

4
Open the file to run the script. Close Notepad and open the file you just saved to run
the script. It should appear for a brief moment on screen, but you might not notice this.
o This script will switch the registry editor's disabled/enabled setting. Do not run it
a second time, or the registry editor will be disabled again.

5.

5
Use regedit. Enabling regedit with this script shouldn't require a restart, although using it
to disable regedit will.

Method 6 of 6: Enabling Regedit from the HKEY settings

1.

1
Open cmd.exe. See "Enabling Regedit with CMD" for how to access this. Try that
method first, since it is faster. If the CMD line responds with an error message, follow the
instructions below.
o This process should work for Windows 7, 8, and Vista.

2.

2
Enable an administrator account. Type n e t u s e r a d m i n i s t r a t o r
/ a c t i v e : y e s and hit enter. We'll use this account to gain access to HKEY_USERS
without having to use the registry editor.

3.

3
Find your SID. Type w m i c u s e r a c c o u n t w h e r e n a m e = ' % u s e r n a m e % ' g e t
s i d and hit enter. (You may replace %username% with your account name, but it
shouldn't be necessary).[11] You should see a long "Secure ID" number, beginning with
something similar to S-1-5-. Write down the entire ID, or at least enough numbers to
uniquely identify it (for instance, the first character after each mark).

4.

4
Switch users to the new "Administrator" account. Go to "Switch users" in the Start
menu. Leave your ordinary account logged in.

5.

5
Navigate to HKEY_USERS. This should be located in your Computer folder.

6.

6
Open the folder with your SID. Open the folder whose name is the SID you wrote
down. This will contain the settings for your normal account.

7.

7
Navigate to the following folder. Go to
\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System inside your SID
folder.

8.

8
Change your Disable Registry Tools setting. Double click on DisableRegistryTools. In
the "Value Data" field, change the text to a "0" instead of a "1."[12] This should enable
registry editing.

9.

9
Try Regedit on your ordinary account. Switch back to your ordinary account and try to
access Regedit again. Restart your computer and try again if necessary.

10.

10
Disable the administrator account. Return to cmd.exe on your ordinary account and
enter n e t u s e r a d m i n i s t r a t o r / a c t i v e : n o . This will disable the
administrator account. In general, that "hidden" administrator account should be disabled
whenever it isn't being actively used, as a mistake in the files it has access to could cause
catastrophic damage.
o If you decide to leave the account enabled, change its settings to add a password.
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Tips

Disabling Regedit is a regular trick used by viruses and spyware programs that infect
your computer. If your Regedit program becomes unexpectedly disabled, use an antivirus program to scan your system for viruses.

For temporary access to the registry editor, you can try disabling all your non-essential
Startup items, creating a desktop shortcut to C:\Windows\regedit.exe, and opening that
shortcut as soon as the computer starts up.[13] If you're lucky, you may gain access before
the computer has checked for policies. This will not permanently fix the problem.