Windows Update Was Disabled By Your System Administrator" Error Message

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 326686

Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

You may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if the Windows Update feature has been turned off. Your system administrator may have used a Group Policy, System Policy, or registry setting to turn off this feature.

RESOLUTION

Contact your system administrator to modify Group Policy or System Policy settings that prevent you from starting Windows Update. Administrators can give access to Windows Update to the user, the system, or both.

To give users interactive access to Windows Update, follow these steps:
  1. Start the Group Policy Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.
  2. Expand User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then click Start Menu and Taskbar.
  3. In the right pane, right-click Disable and remove links to Windows Update, and then click Properties.
  4. Click to select Disabled, click Apply, and then click OK.
To give the system access to Windows Update for automatic updates, follow these steps:
  1. Start the Group Policy MMC snap-in.
  2. Expand User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then click Windows Update.
  3. In the right pane, right-click Remove access to use all Windows Update features, and then click Properties.
  4. Click to select Disabled, click Apply, and then click OK.
Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. If changing Group Policy does not turn on the Windows Update feature, edit the registry to manually remove the DisableWindowsUpdateAccess or NoWindowsUpdate DWORD values from the appropriate registry keys:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
  2. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Software, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand CurrentVersion, and then expand Policies.
  3. If the Windows Update key exists, click Windows Update.
  4. In the right pane, if the DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD value exists, right-click DisableWindowsUpdateAccess, and then click Delete.
  5. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Software, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand CurrentVersion, and then expand Policies.
  6. If the Explorer key exists, click Explorer.
  7. In the right pane, if a DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD exists, right-click DisableWindowsUpdateAccess, and then click Delete.
  8. In the right pane, if a NoWindowsUpdate DWORD value exists, right-click NoWindowsUpdate, and then click Delete.
  9. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Microsoft, expand Windows, expand CurrentVersion, and then expand Policies.
  10. If the Explorer key exists, click Explorer.
  11. In the right pane, if a DisableWindowsUpdateAccess DWORD exists, right-click DisableWindowsUpdateAccess, and then click Delete.
  12. In the right pane, if a NoWindowsUpdate DWORD value exists, right-click NoWindowsUpdate, and then click Delete.
  13. Close Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.

MORE INFORMATION

The Groups Policy settings Remove links and access to Windows Update, Disable and remove links to Windows Update, and Remove Access to use all Windows Update features are supported by Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Server 2003. On other Windows operating systems, you can use System Policies or manual registry changes.

An administrator can use these policies to remove access to Windows Update features for individual or domain users or Active Directory objects.
For additional information about how to troubleshoot Windows Update issues, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

316524 "Administrators only" error message when you attempt to use the Windows Update site

The information in this article applies to:

Back To The Top

Bud's CDs FREE MP3s     Alphabetical Index Of Everything In This Site