Prevent customization of indexed locations in Control Panel: registry value PreventModifyingIndexedLocations (HKCU Windows Search)UserHKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search

Policy ID: PreventModifyingIndexedLocations_2
Scope: User Configuration
Supported on: Any version of Microsoft Windows with Windows Search 4.0 or later
Source: Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category: Windows Components › Search

Registry

PreventModifyingIndexedLocations

REG_DWORDUser

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search Current key

Enabled value: 1
Disabled value: 0

Apply with .reg · CMD · PowerShell

.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search]

; Options (use only one)
; Enabled
"PreventModifyingIndexedLocations"=dword:00000001
; Disabled
"PreventModifyingIndexedLocations"=dword:00000000

CMD

:: Options (use only one)

:: Enabled
reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" /v "PreventModifyingIndexedLocations" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
:: Disabled
reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" /v "PreventModifyingIndexedLocations" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

PowerShell

# Common: create the key
New-Item -Path 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search' -Force | Out-Null

# Options (use only one)
# Enabled
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search' -Name 'PreventModifyingIndexedLocations' -PropertyType DWord -Value 1 -Force | Out-Null
# Disabled
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search' -Name 'PreventModifyingIndexedLocations' -PropertyType DWord -Value 0 -Force | Out-Null