Top 10 Ways to Fix Task Manager Not Working on Windows 11

Task Manager is a useful utility that lets you monitor your PC’s memory consumption, background processes, startup programs, and more. Additionally, you can also use it to terminate unresponsive apps and processes. But what if the Task Manager stops working or won’t open in Windows 11?

If you are unable to open Task Manager even with the alternative methods, it could be due to temporary glitches, corrupt system files, malware infection, or other issues. In this guide, we have compiled a list of solutions that should get the Task Manager working again. Let’s take a look.

1. Restart Your PC

This may seem cliché, but restarting your PC can often resolve issues caused by minor bugs or glitches. If it’s nothing major, this should do the trick and save you a lot of time.

Press the Windows key + X to open the Power User menu, go to ‘Shut down or sign out,’ and select Restart from the submenu.

2. Run the SFC and DISM Scans

SFC (or System File Checker) scan is a handy tool that can help Windows diagnose your PC for corrupted files and repair them. If the Task Manager is malfunctioning due to corrupted system files, running the SFC scan should help.

Step 1: Right-click on the Start icon and select Terminal (Admin) from the resulting menu.

Step 2: Type the command mentioned below and press Enter.

sfc/scannow

If the issue persists even after this, you can perform a DISM (or Deployment Image Servicing and Management) scan instead. Similar to the SFC scan, DISM can repair system images and files on your Windows PC.

Open the Terminal app with admin rights again and enter the following commands one by one.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

After the scan is complete, restart your PC and see if the Task Manager is working or opening as expected in Windows 11.

3. Enable Task Manager via the Registry Editor

Are you seeing the ‘Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator’ error on Windows? It’s likely that the Task Manager is disabled via the Registry Editor. In that case, you will need to edit a few registry files to re-enable the Task Manager.

Making incorrect changes to the registry files can lead to serious problems. Hence, make sure to follow the steps carefully and back up all the registry files before proceeding.

Step 1: Press the Windows key + R to launch the Run dialog box. Type regedit in the box and press Enter.

Step 2: Paste the following path in the address bar at the top and press Enter.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies

Step 3: Within the Policies key, select the System key. If you can’t find it, right-click on the Policies key, go to New, and choose Key. Name it System.

Step 4: Right-click on the System key, go to New and choose DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new entry as DisableTaskMgr.

Step 5: Double-click the DisableTaskMgr DWORD, change its value to 0, and hit OK.

Restart your PC to apply the changes. After the reboot, you should be able to access the Task Manager as before.

4. Enable Task Manager via the Group Policy Editor

Similar to the Registry Editor, you can also use the Group Policy Editor to re-enable the Task Manager on Windows. Note that this method will only work if you are using the Professional, Education, or Enterprise editions of Windows.

Step 1: Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box, type in gpedit.msc, and press Enter.

Step 2: In the Local Group Policy Editor window, use the left pane to navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl+Alt+Del Options. Then, double-click the Remove Task Manager policy on your right.

Step 3: In the Remove Task Manager window, choose the Disabled option and click OK.

Restart your PC and then try to access the Task Manager again.

5. Re-Register Task Manager Using PowerShell

Another thing you can do if Task Manager won’t open or respond is to re-register it on your system. While this may sound difficult, the process only requires you to run a single command in Windows PowerShell.

Step 1: Click the search icon on the taskbar, type in Windows PowerShell, and select Run as Administrator.

Step 2: Select Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.

Step 3: In the PowerShell window, paste the following command and press Enter.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

Restart your PC after this and the Task Manager should work fine.

6. Install Windows Updates

Such issues with Task Manager can also arise due to faulty Windows builds. You can try installing pending Windows updates to see if that fixes the problem.

Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. Switch to the Windows Update tab and click the Check for updates button. Download and install all the available updates and check if the issue is still there.

7. Run the System Maintenance Troubleshooter

Your Windows 11 PC includes a System Maintenance Troubleshooter that can detect and fix any irregularities with desktop shortcuts, disk volumes, file paths, and more. You can try running this toll to see if that gets Task Manager to open or work on your Windows 11 PC.

Step 1: Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type the following command in the box and hit OK.

%systemroot%\system32\msdt.exe -id MaintenanceDiagnostic

Step 2: Click Next and follow the on-screen prompts to run the troubleshooter.

8. Scan for Malware

If you are having difficulty accessing the Task Manager and other Windows programs such as File Explorer, your PC may be infected with a virus. To be sure, you can try scanning your PC for malware using Windows Defender.

9. Perform a System Restore

The System Restore feature in Windows periodically takes a backup of the entire system. You can use it to revert to the point when the Task Manager was working fine. Here’s how.

Step 1: Click the search icon on the taskbar. Type create a restore point in the box and select the first result that appears.

Step 2: Under the System Protection tab, click the System Restore button.

Step 3: Select the Recommended restore option and click Next.

Step 4: Review all the details and click Finish.

10. Reset Your Windows PC

Lastly, if all else fails, you can consider resetting Windows as a last resort. This will restore Windows to its default settings and resolve any issues. Don’t worry. this process won’t erase your personal files.

Step 1: Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. In the System tab, click on Recovery.

Step 2: Click the Reset PC button.

Step 3: Select the Keep my files option and then follow the on-screen prompts to finish resetting Windows 11.

After Windows 11 resets everything, the Windows Security app should work as before.

FAQs on Task Manager Not Working on Windows 11

Manage Task at Hand

The Task Manager is a critical system maintenance tool on Windows. However, like any program, it may occasionally need some maintenance itself. Hopefully, the solutions provided above have been helpful, and you are now able to use the Task Manager as before.