Fix “Some Settings Are Managed by Your Organization” on Windows 10
Windows 10 has two editions; Home and Pro. The Home version is meant for personal use which means you’re the admin of the system and remote deployment of software or group policy settings cannot be implemented on your system.
Fix Some settings are managed by your organization
Windows 10 Home can be used with any Microsoft Account; a personal account or a work or school account. Doing so will not automatically upgrade your Windows 10 Home to the Pro version (that simply isn’t possible without a clean install) however it may introduce some restrictions and settings to the OS.
If you open the Settings app on Windows 10, and see the ‘Some settings are managed by your organization’ message in certain panels, it may be because of the account that you’re using or it may a bug. Here’s how you can fix it.
1. Check the Microsoft Account
The first thing you should do is check which Microsoft Account you’re using on the system. You should use your personal account and not a company issued account. Doing so will limit the settings that you can change on Windows 10 and you will see the Some settings are managed by your organization message.
- Open the Settings app with the Win+I keyboard shortcut.
- Go to Accounts.
- Check the email account.
- If you’re signed in with a work or school account, switch to a local account.
- Go to the Work or School account tab.
- Remove work or school accounts that are listed.
2. Change Windows telemetry settings
Windows 10 gives users the option to share diagnostic information with Microsoft. You can opt to share the bare minimum information that’s required, or you can opt to share more than is required to help improve Windows 10. These settings, when enabled, can often cause the Some settings are managed by your organization message to appear.
- Open the Settings app with the Win+I keyboard shortcut.
- Go to Privacy.
- Select the Diagnostic and feedback tab.
- Change the telemetry setting from ‘Optional diagnostic data’ to ‘Required diagnostic data’.
- Restart the system.
3. Check Group policy
The Some settings are managed by your organization error can appear on both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. On Windows 10 Pro, it may appear because you’ve changed the group policy settings.
- Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box.
- In the run box, enter
gpedit.mscand tap the Enter key. - Go to
User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Start Menu and Taskbar/Notificationsfrom the column on the left. - Double-click Turn off toast notifications and disable it (try enabling and disabling it a few times first).
- Restart the system.
4. Check registry edits
Changes made to the registry, especially to modify how an app works can result in the Some settings are managed by your organization message appearing in the Settings app. If you know of a recent change you’ve made to the registry, undo it and check if the message goes away. If you haven’t made changes to the registry, follow these steps.
- Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box.
- In the run box, enter
regeditand tap the Enter key. - Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Policies/Microsoft/Windows/WindowsUpdate - Delete the Wuserver value from the pane on the right.
5. Remove third-party apps
Many Windows 10 users install apps that block telemetry on the OS, and that block updates or restart attempts. These apps work as intended but they can lock down certain settings which is why the Some settings are managed by your organization message appears. Remove any such app that you’ve installed and reset things back to their default settings.
6. Check antivirus settings
Windows 10 comes with a built-in antivirus app; Windows Defender, however they are free to install third-party anti-virus apps. These apps may block all sorts of services including the telemetry service. If you’ve installed a third-party anti-virus, check if it’s blocking a Windows 10 service.
You can also try disabling the antivirus and enabling Windows Defender to see if the message goes away. If it does, you need to whitelist the services that the antivirus is blocking.
7. Check hard drive permissions
Hard drives are used internally to install and boot an OS from, and to store files locally. They’re also used for taking backups. Some hard drives that are meant for creating and storing backups have different read/write permissions. If you’re using such a hard drive as your boot drive, it may be why you’re seeing the Some settings are managed by your organization message.
You can look into ways you can change the permissions of the drive or you can try replacing the drive. The only other alternative is to not change the setting you’re trying to change i.e, the panel that shows the Some settings are managed by your organization message.
8. Check scheduled tasks
Certain scheduled tasks can show the Some settings are managed by your organization message.
- Open Task Scheduler.
- Under the Safer networking set of tasks, look for Spybot Anti-Beacon.
- Right-click it and disable it.
- Restart the system.
Conclusion
The Some settings are managed by your organization is a vague message Windows 10 shows when certain settings have been locked. The message doesn’t tell you why the setting is disabled so you’re generally left to figure things out on your own. Make sure you haven’t installed apps that make system-wide changes or that take over control for essential OS functions e.g., managing network activity.
