it seems i have fully lost my ctrl + alt + delete opition... i am runnin on XP.. and I am just curious if anyone has any idea on how to bring it back..

i tried the application recovery and it didnt do anything, have any other ideas?

Please.. any advice I would be grateful for.. I would like to get this back!

I believe there's a registry key that
controls this. Have you tried there?

i never heard about that. can you please go more in depth and tell me how or what to do

If you haven't heard about registry keys.... do not attempt this solo!

My advice is buy Norton SystemWorks 2003 PRO. It's an awesome software package, that has built in tools that you can run and cure most of the typical things that may hinder your machine.

Have you tried right clicking on the taskbar and choosing task manager? If you can reach it from there, perhaps it's a keyboard issue.

Have you tottaly lost it, or is it minimized?

If it is minimized, just double click the window

Originally posted by i-meals
it seems i have fully lost my ctrl + alt + delete opition... i am runnin on XP.. and I am just curious if anyone has any idea on how to bring it back..

i tried the application recovery and it didnt do anything, have any other ideas?
Try restarting your PC ;)

why dont you do a System Restore to a point when it was ok

i have already tired the system restore.. nothing happen.
i redid the registry key nothing happened

i-meals,

Are you using the welcome screen option. Go to the control panel, select User Accounts, then select "Change the way users log on and off". Is "use the welcome screen" checked? If so, uncheck and apply options. Ctrl-Alt-Del should now work.

Right click on desktop/New/Shortcut..... and create these two shortcuts.


C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32,SHExitWindowsEx 2 [enter in Command line]
Restart [Give this name]



C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32,SHExitWindowsEx 1 [enter in Command line]
Shutdown [give this name]


Clicking on these two will Restart or Shutdown

Set keyboard shortcut for these two by right clicking on icon/Properties/Shortcut/Shortcut Key = Ctrl+Alt+ [your selection...example S for shutdown / R for restart]

Done: When you want to restart press Ctrl+Alt+R for restart
or Ctrl+Alt+S for shutdown.

you can also try ctrl + shift + esc ;)

try this:


goto start
goto run
type gpedit.msc
expand the menu entitled "administrative templates"
expand the system selection
select "ctrl+alt+delete options"
on the right side of the dialog, there will be 3 options:

remove task manager
remove lock computer
remove change password
remove logoff

right click where it says "remove task manager" and select "Properties" select disable

complete those steps for other 3 options


that should work for ya. If that doesn't work, reply to this thread saying "ub3r: it didn't work" with details on whatever happend.

hrmm.. what OS are you using, the .msc file didnt work..

Well either your blind, can't read or just missed it but he said XP :)

I'm using windows xp professional .

gpedit.msc

it might just be a xp professional feature. Are you using XP Home Edition?

Finched, thanks for the smart ass comment, but if you would read it correctly, ub3r did not say what OS he was using..

ub3r- oh ok, yah, I'm on home edition.

now now newbies, no need to flame.