Remove the Security Tab from File Explorer

This post covers multiple methods to remove the security tab from file explorer for Windows users. These methods effectively disable the Security tab by preventing users from accessing the components required to display it.

The Security tab in the Windows File Explorer properties window enables you to control access permissions for files and folders. It allows you to specify which users, groups, or systems can access the item and define the actions they are permitted to perform, such as reading, writing, or executing.

I was recently asked if there’s a way to prevent Windows users from accessing the security tab or viewing a list of all users with access to a resource. Yes, this is possible. Methods like Group Policy, Microsoft Intune, PowerShell script, or even modifying the registry can be employed for achieving this task.

In this guide we have covered all the above methods, you can use whichever method suits you best.

Method 1: Remove the Security Tab from File Explorer using GPO

Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). Right-click Group Policy Objects and select New. Enter the policy name as ‘Remove Security Tab‘ and click OK.

Right-click this newly created GPO and select Edit. In the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer. Right-click the policy setting Remove Security tab and select Edit.

Enable the policy ‘Remove Security tab‘ and click Apply and OK. This will make sure users opening the Properties dialog for all file system objects (folders, files, links, and drives) cannot see a Security tab.

Close the GPMC editor.

Link the above GPO to an OU consisting of users for whom you want to disable the security tab. Close the group policy management console.

Next, update the group policy on the client computers to speed up your testing. There are multiple ways to perform the group policy update on remote computers.

On a test client machine, you can manually perform the group policy update by running the gpupdate /force command.

Once the devices have successfully updated the policies, the final step is to confirm that the group policy settings have been applied to the Windows devices.

Sign in to a Windows device, right-click on a folder or file and select properties from shortcut menu. Subsequently, you will see that Security tab is not available for users. The users cannot view the security permissions for the selected file, folder, or a drive.

The below screenshot shows an example of a security tab that was visible in the file properties box before applying the GPO and after applying the GPO, it was permanently disabled. The GPO worked flawlessly!!

If you want to re-enable the security tab in file explorer properties for users, you can unlink the GPO that you’ve applied to the OU. Or edit the applied GPO and go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer. Edit the policy setting, Remove Security tab and select Not Configured.

Method 2: Remove Security Tab from File Explorer using Intune

For Windows devices that are managed by Intune MDM, you can use settings catalog policy to permanently remove security tab from the file explorer. Here’s how you can do that.

Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center and navigate to Devices > Manage devices > Configuration > Create > New policy. Choose Windows 10 and later and select “Settings catalog”.

In the Settings Picker, search for “Remove Security Tab”. From the results, select the category Administrative templates\Windows Components\File Explorer and then select the “Remove Security tab (User)” setting.

Enable the “Remove Security Tab (User)” setting by sliding the toggle to the right. This will prevent the security tab from appearing in File explorer properties for Windows users. Click Next.

In the scope tags section, you specify scope tags. Specifying scope tags is optional, and you may skip this step. Click Next.

In the Assignments window, select the user groups to which you want to assign the RemoveSecurityTab policy. I recommend deploying the profile to a few test user groups first and then expanding it to more users if the testing is successful. Select Next.

On the Review + Create page, review all the settings that you have configured for configuring the restricting access to the security tab via Intune and select Create.

A new policy is created, and you can find it under the list of Configuration Profiles. To speed up the policy assignments, you can sync Intune policies using different methods on your Windows computers.

Once the policies have been assigned to endpoints, sign in to a Windows device and go to any file or folder properties. In the Properties window, notice that Security tab is removed. This confirms that you can use Intune policy to effectively disable the security tab for users.

Method 3: Disable security tab using Registry

Windows Registry is another sneaky way to disable the security tab for users in the file explorer. I recommend this approach if you have a few computers that are mostly non-domain joined. Also, back up your entire registry to a file before making the below changes.

Open the registry editor by running regedit.exe command. In the registry editor, navigate to the below path:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Right-click and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Specify the value name as NoSecurityTab and set the value to 1. This will disable the security tab from the Properties dialog for all file system objects (folders, files, links, and drives). Click OK and close the registry editor.

Log off from the device and sign in back. To confirm if the registry modification works, right-click any file or a folder and select Properties. The Security tab is not available for users now.

Note: If you want the security tab to appear back in the properties dialog for all file system objects, go to the above registry path and set the NoSecurityTab value to 0.

Method 4: Remove Security Tab from File Explorer using PowerShell

The below script disables the security tab in the file explorer properties dialog. Copy and save this script to a file with a .ps1 extension, e.g., DisableSecurityTab.ps1.

# PowerShell script to disable the Security tab in File Explorer properties dialog
# Published by Prajwal Desai

# The registry key that controls the Security tab visibility
$registryPath = "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer"

# Create the registry path if it doesn't exist
if (!(Test-Path $registryPath)) {
    New-Item -Path $registryPath -Force | Out-Null
}

# Set the registry value to hide the Security tab
Set-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name "NoSecurityTab" -Value 1 -Type DWord

# Output confirmation message
Write-Host "Security tab has been disabled in File Explorer properties dialog." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "You may need to restart File Explorer or your computer for changes to take effect."

Open the PowerShell as administrator and run the DisableSecurityTab.ps1 script. The following message confirms the security tab removal: Security tab has been disabled in File Explorer properties dialog.

Use the below PowerShell script to re-enable the Security tab in File Explorer properties dialog.

# PowerShell script to re-enable the Security tab in File Explorer properties dialog
# Published by Prajwal Desai

# The registry key that controls the Security tab visibility
$registryPath = "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer"


# Set the registry value to display the Security tab
Set-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name "NoSecurityTab" -Value 0 -Type DWord

# Output confirmation message
Write-Host "Security tab has been re-enabled in File Explorer properties dialog." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "You may need to restart File Explorer or your computer for changes to take effect."