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Enable or Disable Windows File Protection

Enable or Disable Windows File Protection

By Mitch Bartlett 3 Comments

The Windows File Protection feature in Microsoft Windows prevents programs from replacing critical Windows system files. You may have to turn the feature on or off in certain configurations. You can enable or disable Windows File Protection in Microsoft Windows with a registry edit. Just use these steps.

Note: Windows File Protection is enabled by default in all versions of Microsoft Windows.

This post applies to Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista.

  1. Hold the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run dialog box.
  2. Type “regedit“, then select “OK“.
  3. The Registry Editor opens. Navigate to the following registry key:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    • SOFTWARE
    • Microsoft
    • Windows NT
    • CurrentVersion
    • Winlogon
  4. Look for the key “SFCDisable“and double click on it. If it doesn’t exist, create it by right-clicking the “Winlogon” folder and choose “New” > “DWORD (32-bit value)“
  5. Set the value to one of the following:
    • 1 – disabled, prompt at boot to re-enable
    • 2 – disabled at next boot only, no prompt to re-enable
    • 4 – enabled, with popups disabled
    • ffffff9d – for completely disabled
    • 0 – Enabled
  6. Restart Windows. You may receive a message at startup that says “Windows File Protection is not active on this system. Would you like to enable Windows File Protection now? This will enable Windows File Protection until the next system restart.” Choosing “Yes” will reactivate Windows File Protection and the message will appear at every login until “SFCDisable” is set to “0” again.

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Filed Under: Windows Tagged With: win7, Windows 10

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bhargav says

    February 19, 2019 at 3:17 am

    In this case Mobile can connect, i want to couldn’t connect any mobile.

  2. Anonymous says

    June 9, 2017 at 12:51 am

    I can confirm this also seems to work on windows XP (using it to replace cmd with a fake cmd to troll computer scammers)

  3. kaylee says

    February 16, 2017 at 7:57 am

    when i use this for the first time it worked but now it dont wont to work.

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Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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