How to Prevent Users from Pinning Programs to the Taskbar?

The Windows Taskbar is a special application desktop toolbar that shows at the bottom of the display screen by default. The Taskbar allows users to easily open, find, and switch between applications. Users can also pin the programs to the Taskbar, so they can open it with a single click. However, if you don’t want another standard user to pin more programs to the Taskbar, then you can simply disable this feature. By disabling this feature, it will still keep the already pinned programs and disable the unpin option for it. This is a pretty good way to keep the Taskbar pinned programs the same for a long time.

In this article, we will show you methods through which you can disable the ‘Pin to Taskbar‘ option from Taskbar. Most of the time kids or users with less knowledge will change the Taskbar options quite frequently. This may be done accidentally or intentionally, but you as an administrator can disable some of the options for the Taskbar. This can also be used for not unpinning the already pinned programs from the Taskbar.

Disabling Pinning Programs by Using the Local Group Policy Editor

The Group Policy is a Windows feature that helps users in controlling the working environment of the operating system. Using the Local Group Policy Editor, you can simply set the setting for disabling the pin feature for Taskbar. You can also see additional information when you select or open the setting in the Local Group Policy Editor window.

However, if you are using the Windows Home Edition, then skip this method and try the Registry Editor method. This is because the Local Group Policy Editor isn’t available for the Window Home Edition.

1. Open the Run dialog by pressing the Windows + R key together. Now type “gpedit.msc” and press the Enter key to open the Local Group Policy Editor on your system.

   

2. Navigate to the following setting under the User Configuration:

   User Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Start Menu and Taskbar\

   

3. Double-click on the setting named “Do not allow pinning programs to the Taskbar” and it will open up in another window. Now change the toggle option from Not Configured to Enabled.

   

4. Click on the Apply/Ok button to save the changes. This will disable the Pin to Taskbar option from the Taskbar.
5. To enable it back, you will need to change the toggle option back to Not Configured or Disabled in step 3.

Disabling Pinning Programs by Using the Registry Editor

The Registry contains all the information, settings, and options for the hardware and software installed on your system. Users can view and make changes in the Registry Editor according to their needs. However, the wrong configuration can cause issues for the operating system. That is why we always recommend users to create a backup before making any changes to the Windows Registry. By following the below steps correctly, you will easily configure the required setting without any issue:

1. Open a Run command dialog by pressing the Windows + R buttons on your keyboard. Now type “regedit” and press the Enter key to open the Registry Editor on your system. Also, if prompted by UAC (User Account Control), then choose the Yes option.

   

2. Navigate to the following key under the Current User hive:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

3. Right-click on the right pane and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Name this value as “NoPinningToTaskbar“.

   

4. Double-click on the NoPinningToTaskbar value and then change the value data to 1.

   

5. Once you are done with all configurations, make sure you restart your computer to apply the changes. This will disable the pinning programs option for Taskbar.
6. You can also enable it back by change the value data to 0 or deleting this value from the Registry.