Solved Cannot access Secure Desktop registry key

[Victek]

Somehow Secure Desktop - the dimming of the screen in conjunction with a UAC prompt - was turned off on my laptop. I learned that it can be toggled in the registry at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\System

However when I try to access that key I get:

"System cannot be opened. An error is preventing this key from being opened. Details: The system cannot find the file specified"

I discovered that I get the same error attempting to access this key on a different Windows 7 computer. I wonder if my security software is locking it? Any ideas will be appreciated.

 

[Tookeri]

Wrong path. Try this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

 

[Victek]

Wrong path. Try this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Thanks, that was the problem!

I had to add the 32 bit dword PromptOnSecureDesktop and set the value to "1". That enabled the switch to Secure Desktop (indicated by screen dimming) with UAC prompt.

 

[Tookeri]

Additional info for anyone reading this thread as changing settings in the registry manually should only be done by experienced users:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ac-change-prompt-behavior-standard-users.html

From this Tutorial you can then find other Related Tutorials as a list at the end of the Tutorial. These Tutorials include .reg files you can use to set the values for different UAC settings.

For Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise they also show how you can use the Local Security Policy editor or the Local Group Policy Editor to modify UAC settings.