In Windows 11, the built-in Settings app is the central place to access and change various system settings.
Users open the Settings app daily to configure and customize the Windows 11 operating system. Without the Settings app and Control Panel, it’s hard to change the default settings.
Although most users never think of disabling or preventing access to the Settings app, you might want to disable the Settings app for a user account on your Windows 11 PC to stop the user from changing the current settings.
Windows 11 offers two options to disable the Settings app as well as the classic Control Panel. You can use the Windows Registry Editor or the Group Policy Editor to disable the Settings app instantly.
NOTE 1: Once the Settings app and Control Panel are disabled, you get the “This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.” message when you attempt to open the Control Panel. However, the Settings app does not show any message when you try to open it, but it refuses to open.
NOTE 2: Windows 11 offers a single setting to disable both the Control Panel and the Settings app. So, when you disable the Settings app, the Control Panel is also disabled automatically, and vice versa.
Method 1 of 2
Disable the Settings app in Windows 11 via Group Policy
Please note that the Group Policy Editor is not part of the Home edition of Windows 11. So, if you are running the Windows 11 Home edition, please use the Registry Editor method mentioned in Method 2 of this article.
Step 1: Open the Group Policy Editor by typing Gpedit.msc in the Start menu or taskbar search field and then pressing the Enter key.
Step 2: In the Group Policy Editor left pane, navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel.
Step 3: On the left pane, ensure that the Control Panel is selected. Now, on the right side, look for the Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC Settings policy and then double-click on it to open its settings.
Step 4: Select Enabled and then click the Apply button. Reboot your PC once to apply the changes. That’s it!
You may enable the Settings app again by selecting the Disabled option for the Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC Settings.
Method 2 of 2
Disable the Settings app via Registry Editor in Windows 11
Step 1: Type Regedit.msc in the Start menu or taskbar search field and then press the Enter key to open the Registry Editor.
If you get the User Account Control prompt, please click the Yes button.
Step 2: In the left pane of the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Step 3: Right-click the Policies key, click New, and then click Key. Name it Explorer.
Step 4: Now, select the newly created Explorer key on the left side. On the right side, right-click on an empty spot, click New, and then click DWORD 32-bit Value, and then name it NoControlPanel.
Step 5: Finally, double-click NoControlPanel and then change its value from the default 0 to 1 to disable the Control Panel as well as the Settings app. Click the OK button.
To enable the Control Panel and Settings app again, change NoControlPanel’s value to 0 from 1.
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