Enable Active Desktop
- Policy ID
- ForceActiveDesktopOn
- Scope
- User Configuration
- Supported on
- Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 only
- Source
- Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
- Category
- Desktop › Desktop
Description
Enables Active Desktop and prevents users from disabling it.
This setting prevents users from trying to enable or disable Active Desktop while a policy controls it.
If you disable this setting or do not configure it, Active Desktop is disabled by default, but users can enable it.
Note: If both the "Enable Active Desktop" setting and the "Disable Active Desktop" setting are enabled, the "Disable Active Desktop" setting is ignored. If the "Turn on Classic Shell" setting ( in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer) is enabled, Active Desktop is disabled, and both of these policies are ignored.
Options
Registry
UserHKEY_CURRENT_USER
- ForceActiveDesktopOn-