Unable To Access PC Settings and Control Panel In Windows 8

There is no need to tell an average computer user that what a Control Panel is. Additionally, a Modern UI Control Panel introduced in Windows 8 is known as PC Settings. As evident from the name, both the native components of Windows helps users to manage their computer and to configure settings. Recently, some of my friends reported me that they’re unable to access either of the above said components.

In case, they wish to access PC Settings, they see following screen:

“PC Settings have been disabled by your administrator.”

In either case, when they try to access Control Panel, they received following error:

“This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.”

In order to solve this issue, I recommend my friends the following two fixes. And luckily both of them worked perfectly. So here I’m sharing them with all of you…

Using Registry Editor

• 1. Press  + R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor (if you’re not familiar with Registry Editor, then click here). Click OK.
• 2. Navigate here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

• 3. In the right pane of this location, you’ll see a DWORD named as NoControlPanel, having default value data 1 (as you’re facing the issue). So double click over it to modify:
• 4. In the above box, replace to Value data to 0 in order to solve your issue. Alternatively, if you delete this DWORD, it will also have same effect and thus will resolve your problem.
• 5. Now navigate here to verify whether that same DWORD i.e. NoControlPanel exists or not:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

• 6. If you see the DWORD here as well, delete it. That’s it. Reboot and your problem should be fixed now.

Using Local Group Policy Editor

• 1. Press  + R and put gpedit.msc in Run dialog box to open Local Group Policy Editor. Click OK.
• 2. Navigate here:
• User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel
• 3. In the right pane of location, you’ll see the setting Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings as Enabled since you’re facing the issue. Double click on it to modify:
• 4. In the above window, set the policy to Not Configured or Disabled status. Click Apply followed by OK. That’s it. Reboot and your issue should be fixed now.

Note: If this Tutorial and News worked for you (and it should work), please leave a comment below. Thanks.