Prevent access to the command prompt

Policy ID
DisableCMD
Scope
User Configuration
Supported on
At least Windows 2000
Source
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category
System

Description

This policy setting prevents users from running the interactive command prompt, Cmd.exe. This policy setting also determines whether batch files (.cmd and .bat) can run on the computer.

If you enable this policy setting and the user tries to open a command window, the system displays a message explaining that a setting prevents the action.

If you disable this policy setting or do not configure it, users can run Cmd.exe and batch files normally.

Note: Do not prevent the computer from running batch files if the computer uses logon, logoff, startup, or shutdown batch file scripts, or for users that use Remote Desktop Services.

Options

  • Disable the command prompt script processing also?
    • Yes
    • No

Registry

Other policies in the same category

View all policies in this category (10)