“This setting is enabled by the administrator” in Google Chrome
The message “This parameter is enabled by the administrator” may be encountered by the Google Chrome user whenever he tries to change the default search engine in the browser settings. Also, this message may appear when changing the password or when performing certain actions with already installed extensions.
Table of Contents
What causes “This setting is enabled by the administrator”?
- Browser conflict with Google Docs Offline extension. This permission, according to the statements of many users, is most often the catalyst for the appearance of a problem message. It is enough to remove or disable the extension, and you can easily change the search engine.
- Local Group Policy related to Google Chrome. Your Windows OS may have some special Group Policy that prevents you from changing Google Chrome settings. You need to do a small change in the Command Prompt to fix the problem.
- Malicious entry in the system registry. Some users argue that the inability to change the search engine may be due to malware that has made its own special entries in the Windows registry. In this case, you need to dig into the registry and get rid of these entries.
How to fix “This setting is enabled by the administrator”
Solution # 1 Removing the Google Docs Offline extension
The most common reason for the “This setting is enabled by an administrator” message is a Chrome browser extension called Google Docs Offline (or Google Docs Offline). The purpose of this extension is to enable users to work with Google Docs offline.
Also, it’s worth noting that in recent versions of Google Chrome, the Google Docs Offline extension is installed by default. The question is, why is this extension causing problems at all? The answer is that it really hates working with third-party extensions, and as a result, it can block some browser functions.
- Open the Google Chrome browser;
- click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select “More Tools → Extensions”;
- click on the “Delete” button next to the Google Docs Offline extension;
- once again click on the “Delete” button in order to confirm your intentions;
- restart Google Chrome and check if you can change the search engine in your browser settings.
Solution # 2 Updating local group policies through the Command Line
If you encounter the error “This setting is enabled by the administrator” exactly when you are trying to change the search engine in Chrome, then this is most likely due to a certain local group policy that prevents changing browser settings. We guarantee you that you will be able to change everything if you do it from under the administrator account.
These policies are usually set by some kind of malware, but there are times when third-party browser extensions do this. One way or another, you can fix all this by running three small commands in the Command Prompt.
- Press Win + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)”;
- run the following commands:
- RD / S / Q “% WinDir% System32 GroupPolicyUsers”
- RD / S / Q “% WinDir% System32 GroupPolicy”
- gpupdate / force
- close Command Prompt and restart your computer.
Go to Google Chrome and check for the problem message.
Solution # 3 Removing the problematic policy through the registry
Didn’t the previous method work for you? Then you can try to get rid of the problematic policy through the Windows Registry Editor. Try the following:
- press Win + R and execute regedit;
- go to branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Policies Google Chrome;
- find entries with suspicious values in the right part of the window and delete them;
- close Registry Editor and restart your computer.
Solution # 4 Checking the system for viruses and malware
If none of the solutions helped you cope with the message “This setting is enabled by the administrator”, then you may be dealing with malware or even viruses. Scan your Windows OS with some good antivirus like Malwarebytes, Avast, Bit Defender or even Windows Defender and remove the threats you find.
