Windows 11 is Microsoft’s latest operating system, which emphasizes security and privacy matters. With all the renovative features, Windows 11 has now become the most widely used operating system in the world. One of the most beneficial privacy features is to prevent non-technical users from accessing the system settings menu.
If you share your system with someone, they have the exclusive right to make changes to your system network settings, personalization, and security features. There this function will configure the system settings, and it will work in their own state. To avoid this problem, Windows 11 allows its admin to block settings access for certain users. To learn more about this, let’s go to the below section.
Method 1: Block Settings Access on Windows 11 using Registry Editor
The first and easy method to block some users from accessing your Settings menu is using the Registry editor. You can set a registry key and limit users from accessing the Settings. To do so,
Note: Before proceeding with the process, you need to back up the registry to avoid further complications in the future.
- Firstly, press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box and type “regedit” in the text box, and press the OK button.
- On the newly opened screen, go to the following path,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
- Then right-click on the Explorer key, select the New from the sub-menu and select the DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- And create new kay and name it as NoControlPanel, and press Enter.
- Now open the NoControlPanel key and set its Value data as 1 and Base as Hexadecimal.
- Once done, save the changes, exit from the window, and restart the system.
From now on, no one can access your system settings menu except you. If you want to share settings access for other users in the future, go to the NoControlPanel key and set its Value data to 0.
Method 2: Block Settings Access on Windows 11 using Group Policy
Another way to protect your system settings from other users is to block settings access using Group Policy. To do so,
- Firstly, press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box and type gpedit.msc in the text box, and press the OK button.
- On the newly opened screen, go to the following path,
User Configuration -> Administrative Templates and select the Control Panel
- On the next screen, double-click on the Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings to open it.
- Inside the new screen, from the left side, click on the radio button beside the Enabled option.
- Once done, save the changes by pressing Apply and OK buttons and restart the system. Hereafter other users can’t open the Settings menu.
If you change your mind and like to share settings access to other users, then you need to open the Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings window and select the Not Configured option from the left side of the screen.
These are all about to block users from Settings access in Windows 11 and its methods. If you have any queries or concerns regarding this article, you can leave a comment in the comment box below.