Tweaking Registry for Internet Explorer
Behaviour of Internet Explorer can be modified by Registry Tweaks. Let's take the Internet Settings first.
This is the dialog Box which opens when you select "Internet Options..." under "Tools" menu item in Internet Explorer or by Opening "Internet Options" from Control Panel.
Open Regedit and browse through to the key as below (or create if doesnot exist)
HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\\Software\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\Control Panel
Creating a DWORD valuename (names as below) and setting its value to 1 will hide the corresponding Tabs in the Dialog Box
| ValueName | Description |
|---|---|
| GeneralTab | Disable viewing the General page |
| SecurityTab | Disable viewing the Security page |
| PrivacyTab | Disable viewing the Privacy page |
| ContentTab | Disable viewing the Content page |
| ConnectionsTab | Disable viewing the Connections page |
| ProgramsTab | Disable viewing the Programs page |
| AdvancedTab | Disable viewing the Advanced page |
To regain the original settings either set 0 for above valuenames or delete them.
The individual items under the above pages can also be restricted by creating a DWORD valuename (names as below) and setting its value to 1
| ValueName | Description |
|---|---|
| History | Prevents users from changing the history settings for the browser. |
| Colors | Prevents users from changing the default Web page colors. |
| Links | Prevents users from changing the colors of links on Web pages. |
| Fonts | Prevents users from changing font settings. |
| Languages | Prevents users from changing language settings. |
| Accessibility | Prevents users from changing accessibility settings. |
| Settings | Disable changing any settings on the General page |
| HomePage | Disable changing HomePage on the General page |
| Advanced | Disable changing any settings on the Advanced page. |
The menubar displayed on the browser window too can be modified. Browse to the key as below (or create if doesnot exist)
HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\\Software\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\Restrictions
Creating a DWORD valuename (names as below) and setting its value to 1 will hide the corresponding menu items
| ValueName | Description |
|---|---|
| NoBrowserSaveAs | File menu: Disable Save As... menu option |
| NoFileNew | File menu: Disable New menu option |
| NoFileOpen | File menu: Disable Open menu option |
| NoBrowserClose | File menu: Disable closing the browser and Explorer windows |
| NoViewSource | View menu: Disable Source menu option |
| NoTheaterMode | View menu: Disable Full Screen menu option |
| NoFavorites | Hide Favorites menu |
| NoBrowserOptions | Tools menu: Disable Internet Options... menu option |
| NoHelpItemTipOfTheDay | Help menu: Remove 'Tip of the Day' menu option |
| NoHelpItemNetscapeHelp | Help menu: Remove 'For Netscape Users' menu option |
| NoHelpItemTutorial | Help menu: Remove 'Tour' menu option |
| NoHelpItemSendFeedback | Help menu: Remove 'Send Feedback' menu option |
| NoBrowserContextMenu | Disable Context menu (right click) |
| NoOpeninNewWnd | Disable Open in New Window menu option |
| NoSelectDownloadDir | Disable Save this program to disk option |
The toolbar displayed on the browser window too can be modified. Browse to the key as below (or create if doesnot exist)
HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer
Create a DWORD valuename SpecifyDefaultButtons and set its value to 1. This has to be added once followed by tweaks as below.
Creating a DWORD valuename (names as below) and setting its value to 2 will hide the corresponding toolbar items. For showing the items, you will either require to change values to 1 or delete the valuename.
| ValueName | Description |
|---|---|
| Btn_Back | Hide Back button |
| Btn_Forward | Hide Forward button |
| Btn_Stop | Hide Stop button |
| Btn_Refresh | Hide Refresh button |
| Btn_Home | Hide Home button |
| Btn_Search | Hide Search button |
| Btn_History | Hide History button |
| Btn_Favorites | Hide Favorites button |
| Btn_Folders | Hide Folders button |
| Btn_Fullscreen | Hide Fullscreen button |
| Btn_Tools | Hide Tools button |
| Btn_MailNews | Hide Mail button |
| Btn_Size | Hide size button |
| Btn_Print | Hide Print button |
| Btn_Edit | Hide Edit button |
| Btn_Discussions | Hide Discussions button |
| Btn_Cut | Hide Cut button |
| Btn_Copy | Hide Copy button |
| Btn_Paste | Hide Paste button |
| Btn_Encoding | Hide Encoding button |
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Top Commentators
- No commentators.
March 2nd, 2007 - 03:44
I do in upper and i don’t hide copy button
March 6th, 2007 - 01:52
Hi, I did as the instruction above, but it didn’t hide my print button at IE toolbar. Can you advise? It’s urgent. Thanks in advance!
March 6th, 2007 - 07:52
Before tweaking registry for hiding toolbar buttons do as below.
Create a DWORD valuename SpecifyDefaultButtons and set its value to 1.
This missing step was preventing the tweak to perform well and I have also updated this on the post marked in Red
May 2nd, 2007 - 14:40
Crystal clear! Thanks very much for sharing your wealth of knowledge.
November 8th, 2007 - 12:39
Hi,
I would like to be able to prevent my IE history from being deleted. Can you tell me exactly how I would do this (Not understanding where the “DWORD” fits in). I would also appreciate it if you can tell me how to remove the reg edit and allow it to be deleted again.
November 26th, 2007 - 16:21
Is there a way to disable Javascript using the registry
December 23rd, 2007 - 07:32
Hi, you have told that to hide a history button create a dword btn_hostory, but where i have to create in regestry, please len me knwo
December 23rd, 2007 - 07:35
Hi, you have told that to hide a history button create a dword btn_hostory, but where i have to create in regestry, please len me know.
January 29th, 2008 - 18:15
I have done as instructed above to hide IE toolbar buttons: specifydefaultbuttons = 1, btn_mailnews = 2. Doing this still does not remove the button from the toolbar. Is there anything else that could be preventing it from working. Thanks.
February 8th, 2008 - 21:17
I use firefox, so I don’t worry too much about this kind of thing. I do appreciate the time it took to put this together though, and it’s nice to see good registry tweaks.
February 9th, 2008 - 01:21
Unfortunately Firefox do not have muck registry tweaks otherwise I would have liked to feature them too.
May 8th, 2008 - 07:58
I am attempting to hide the History button in IE7, XP Home. However, in my registry I don’t have the HKEY_CURRENT_USERS, but instead the HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Assuming these may be the same thing, I modified as per your suggestion but it doesn’t seem to hide my button. Below is what my registry looks like. Am I doing this correctly? Is this something I can do with XP Home?
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
“NoDriveTypeAutoRun”=dword:00000091
“SpecifyDefaultButtons”=dword:00000001
“Btn_History”=dword:00000002
Thank you kindly
August 17th, 2008 - 21:39
This is a great post. I just tried out a bunch of these and they work. Indeed, the hive should be HKEY_CURRENT_USER without an S. Another thing noteworthy is that since the buttons settings are applied to Explorer and not Internet Explorer, it acts as a typical Microsoft product and is not updated right away until you at least log out of windows and then back in. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the info,
Jason
August 18th, 2008 - 20:19
Thanks for the above information…..!
August 20th, 2008 - 14:49
Thanks for the post.
I have one question…
Using IE, while downloading files, the dialog box shows Open, Save, Cancel right?
When User clicks on “open”, the file gets downloaded into some “temp” folder. But I want to fix some other location for this (Maybe the same location that is fixed when user clicks on “save”)
August 29th, 2008 - 15:56
Using mandatory profiles that get downloaded on each login. Which reg key will hide the ‘Edit with MS Word” button?
August 29th, 2008 - 15:58
Is there a way to have IE go back to the home page when it has been idle for some specified minutes??
September 25th, 2008 - 14:39
My bajrang computer education logo make bast and grade in india
November 4th, 2008 - 16:46
This is great, i want to take few of the buttons from my IE, like Search, Print, Mail, etc…
I will try this today and let you know if i get any errors.
January 7th, 2009 - 18:04
I am using windows xpe on a thin client with restricted access to a single account. So we make changes via local administrator. I want to change the proxy, but when I do it via local admin on the Hkey_current_user. The changes only work on the admin account and not the restricted accout. How do I make changes so it applies to all users?
Thanks, Joe C.
January 22nd, 2009 - 13:47
Hi,
For the proxy to change for the PC, not the user, there is a policy to do that:
1 – On the command prompt, type gpedit.msc.
2 – Navigate to Computer Configuration –> Administrative Tools –> Windows Components –> Internet Explorer.
4 – On the options on the right hand, Enable the forth option, which reads: Make proxy setting per- machine (rather than per-user).
HTH
Yba
February 9th, 2009 - 01:48
Removing the “favorite center” from Internet Explorer 7
Hi,
It looks like you have a huge understanding of how all this registry-thing works. Perhaps you can help me with the thing in question.
I would like to remove the two “Star-Buttons” from my IE7 browser.
Somewhere on another site I saw a solution in the registry, however the solution do nothing for my browser.. the fav-stars are still there.
I seriously hope you can help!
Thanks for a great log,
February 9th, 2009 - 05:04
love the tweaking have customised my IE with the NoBrowserClose – is there anyway I can customise the Restriction error message that comes up
July 9th, 2009 - 16:17
Does anyone know how to disable IE from automatically opening the Microsoft page that prompts me to upgrade to the latest IE version? It’s unwelcome and wastes my time whenever I log into one of my servers. We tend to be very careful about upgrading components early, taking a “wait and see” approach. We’ll upgrade when it’s warranted for security and/or stability but this kind of prompt is better suited to the home user than a data center.
Thanks in advance.
August 12th, 2009 - 12:26
Chuck, Explorer and IExplorer are two different apps. Make sure you are hacking the right keys in regedit.