Disable Administrative Tools in Windows 8

If you are a system administrator, you may have your reasons for wanting to hide, remove or disable Administrative Tools in Windows 8.1 and restrict users from using them. In this post we will see how you can display it in Start Menu Search or disable it using Group Policy Editor and the Registry Editor.

Display Administrative Tools in Start Screen

Switch to the Start Screen of Windows 8.1. Move the mouse cursor to the lower-right corner of your computer screen to open Charms, and choose ‘Settings’ option. Next, from the section shown, select ‘Tiles’ option.

Then, simply slide the Show administrative tools bar to Yes.

Hide Administrative Tools using Group Policy

Run gpedit.msc to open the Local Group Policy Editor. Navigate to the following path:

User Configuration > Administrative Template > Control Panel

In the right pane, select Hide Specified Control Panel Items. Double-click on it.
Click Enabled, and then on Show. In the Show content box which appears, type the following in the Value space:

Microsoft.AdministrativeTools

Click Apply / OK / Save and Exit.

Disable Administrative Tools using Registry Editor

Run regedit to open the Registry Editor, and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Locate and change the DWORD value of StartMenuAdminTools as follows:

• To disable Administrative Tools : 0
• To enable Administrative Tools: 1

Deny access to Administrative Tools menu

To hide the Administrative Tools menu from Standard Users, you can also do the following.
The Administrative Tools shortcut is located at:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Right-click on the Administrative Tools folder and select Properties. Click Security tab. Select Everyone and click on the Edit button. In the Permissions box which opens, again select Everyone and then click on the Remove button. Next click on the Add button, select the domain administrators and give full Access and Full Control. Click OK and Exit.
Do share if you know of better ways to achieve this.