So anyway i had a client asking to have this disabled so i decided to look into this further and i have managed to come up with a work around solution. Essentially the method is to rediect the Ease of Access executable to another file which states that it is disabled. So how do we go about this ?
Solution
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Firstly we have to create a file that will essentially says that it has been disabled. The easiest way to do this is to create a batch file (vbs cannot be used). Open up notepad and enter the following text :
Echo Off
cd \
ECHO The Ease of Access tool has been disabled by your System Administrator
Pause
You then need to save the file i suggest "Easeofaccess.bat" . This can then be either placed locally on the computer or in a network location that we will point to later. Double click the file just to check its working it should bring a window up like below :
Now you know the file is working we need to direct the Ease of access button on the logon screen and the control panel to this file which ultimately will stop the tool working. To do this you need to add a registry key to the computer:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\utilman.exe]
Then you need to add a string value into the key you created :
debugger Value/Data = "location of where the file is located. Use UNC for network path"
See image below :
If you wish to do this across a whole network you need to great a group policy that adds this registry key in to each computer and make sure that the users have permissions to run the file you created above from its stored location. Maybe netlogon folder may be appropriate. So once thats all done all you need to do is log off or reboot the computer and try the ease of access. When you click on the ease of access icon it should open the file you created. If you get the following error message :
This means your path to the file you created is incorrect.
Hope that helps you if you would like to remove access to "ease of access"
