Welcome to the Windows tutorial section by CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions. Today, I will discuss how to restrict access to the Add or Remove Programs feature in a Windows device.
I am writing this article based on my discussions with one of our company's clients, Sandeep Mehta. Last Thursday, I visited his office to sign a deal with him and CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions to upgrade the office network.
During a friendly talk, he complained he could not delete any applications installed on his laptop. Sandeep Mehta is an expert in finance and share trading but not an expert in Information Technology.
Add or Remove Program feature is blocked on his laptop.
I fixed that issue and realized many nontech people were in similar situations.
What Exactly Happened On Mr. Mehta's Laptop?
We could not access the Add or Remove Programs feature on his laptop. I understand that Windows 11 and Windows 10 do not have this feature. They use Apps and Features for it. However, Windows 8 and 7 use Add or Remove Programs instead of Apps & Features.
Note:- This incident happened in 2009.
Add or Remove Programs feature allows users to uninstall, install, or repair software products installed on their Windows computers.
Windows 11 uses Apps & Features.
If you do not want others to access this feature on your PC, you can restrict access to this window by turning off this feature on your computer.
We can lock access to the Add or Remove Programs on your computer, either from Group Policy Editor or Windows Registry.
I will explain both methods in this tutorial. At the end of the guide, you can see how to lift restrictions and reactivate the Add or Remove Programs feature.
In most cases, this restriction is due to recent malware infection.
You can use the same procedure if you face the same trouble on your laptop.
Disable Access to Add Or Remove Programs
One of our readers, John Mignot, asked whether we can lock the Add or Remove Programs. The answer is yes. We can do it. I will explain two methods to do it here.
From Group Policy Editor
Type gpedit.msc in the Search and click on the gpedit link.
Go to the location User Configuration and click Administrative Templates
Click Control Panel and select install and uninstall software
Double-click on Remove Add or Remove Programs.
- Select Enable
Click the Save settings button.
Now, any user who tries to access this window will receive the error message "Add or Remove Programs has been restricted. Please check with your administrator".
You cannot use this method to lock this function on Windows 8, Windows 7, and Vista computers. This method supports Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Server 2003 only. If you have the latest versions of Operating systems from Vista onwards, you may try the second method.
Registry Editing
In this section, I will explain the second method. We can disable Add/Remove Programs from Registry Editor too. The steps are below.
Type regedit on Windows search to access the registry editor.
Go to the location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Right-click on Policies.
Click new from the right-click menu, create a new key, and name it Uninstall.
Create a new DWORD value, and name it NoAddRemovePrograms.
Set the value of NoAddRemovePrograms as 1
Have you tried the steps I explained? If so, you cannot open the Add or Remove Programs feature. Let me explain how to undo it below.
How To Enable Access to Windows Add/Remove Programs?
Let me explain how I fixed the problem on Mr. Mehta's laptop. This section will teach you how to enable the Add or Remove Programs feature (on a Windows PC).
Group Policy Check
If you see the error message "Add or Remove Programs has been restricted. Please check with your administrator", follow the steps below.
Go to the location Administrative Templates >Control Panel >Add or Remove Programs
Double Click Remove Add or Remove Programs and select disable option
Registry Check
Go to the location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Set the NoAddRemovePrograms key's value to 0
You have learned how to activate or deactivate the Windows Add or Remove Programs feature. To learn more, I suggest you read the following reference pages.
Reference
- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/windows-7-how-to-properly-uninstall-programs-8c95f23f-5627-8b73-ef98-565cff984446
- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uninstall-or-remove-apps-and-programs-in-windows-4b55f974-2cc6-2d2b-d092-5905080eaf98
Hello Alex,
ReplyDeleteIt was a great reading. Your client, Sandeep Mehta, is lucky to have a friend like you. Is there any method to manually prevent access to the Add or Remove Programs feature? I have a Dell laptop.
Hello John,
DeleteWelcome to CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions. Yes, we can manually block the Add or Remove Programs feature. I explained that in the article.
Thank you, Alex George. My Lenovo laptop had a malware infection. I scanned and removed the infection, but the Add or Remove Programs feature was gone. I followed your registry trick, and now everything is back to normal.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience, Mike.
DeleteHello Alex,
ReplyDeleteI bought a preinstalled HP Windows 11 laptop. Where is this Add or Remove Programs App? I cannot find it anywhere. Help, please.
Hello Peter,
DeleteWelcome to CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions. I understand that your HP laptop runs on Windows 11. You should check for Apps & Features instead of Add or Remove Programs App.