Task Manager is not responding, opening or disabled by administrator in Windows 10

We normally open the Windows Task Manager when we want to end applications, check on processes, monitor performance, or carry out such system-related tasks. To open the Task Manager, we do the following:

1. Right-click the Taskbar and select Task Manager
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc
3. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then select Task Manager from the next screen.
4. Type taskmgr in start search and hit Enter to open the Task Manager.

Task Manager is not opening

But it may happen that one fine day you find that your Task Manager will not open. In such a case you will have to find out the reason - whether the Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator or whether it is due to some other reason.

Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator

When you try to open the Task Manager, do you get: Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator message? If so you can contact your admin with your problem. Additionally, you can refer to this post on how to enable or disable the Task Manager.

You can use our free tool FixWin to fix this problem of Task Manager easily. You will see the setting under System Tools.

Read: Task Manager crashes or freezes on startup.

Task Manager is not responding due to another reason

But if you are the sole user of the computer and you still get this message or a message like Task Manager is not responding, you can try the following suggestions:

First, open regedit and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Here if you find a registry key DisableTaskMgr, simply delete the key, or set its value to 0.

Alternatively, you could type gpedit.msc in start search and hit Enter to open Group Policy.

Navigate to:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options > Remove Task Manager.

Right-click it > Edit > Select Not Configured > Click Apply-OK-Exit.

Restart the computer and see if it helps!

Other things you could try to fix Task Manager issues:

1. Malware may prevent the opening of Task Manager. So you may want to clear your PC junk files and then run a full or deep scan with your antivirus or security software.
2. Check this post on Folder Options Missing, Task Manager Disabled, Regedit Disabled.
3. Run System File Checker by running sfc /scannow and see if it helps you.
4. Try Remove Restrictions Tool or Re-Enable to re-enable your Task Manager.

If all fails, you may have to do a Repair Install Windows 7 or Reset Windows 10. If that is not an option you'd like to consider, you can use Process Explorer from Sysinternals or Customized Task Manager from TechNet to achieve the same purpose.