Disable the Windows Mobility Center with a registry tweak

To disable the Windows Mobility Center you only need to make one tweak to the Windows Registry file. Mark Kaelin shows you how in this Quick Tip.

On March 14, 2010, I posted a Windows Blog post explaining how to take advantage of the Windows Mobility Center for quick reconfiguration of a notebook PC. The Windows Mobility Center is very convenient for notebooks, but it is not absolutely necessary. And for desktop PCs running Windows 7 or Vista it is potentially resource overhead that you may want to eliminate. You also may want to free up the Mobility Center's shortcut key ([Windows] + X) for some other function or application.

The example for this Quick Tip uses Windows 7, but the procedure should be similar for Vista. There is a PDF version of this blog post available in a TechRepublic Download.

Registry Tweak

Standard disclaimer: The Windows Registry File is vitally important to the proper operation of the Windows operating system. Please backup the file before you make any registry edits.


Click on the Start button and type regedit in the search box. Click on the regedit.exe file in the list of items and answer the UAC prompt. Once in the registry editor (Figure A), navigate to this key:


Figure A

Windows Registry editor
Under the Policies key there needs to be a key with the name MobilityCenter. If that key does not exist, you will have to create it by right-clicking the Policies key and navigating to the New | Key menu entry. (Figure B)

Figure B

Create a new key under Policies
Fill in MobilityCenter as the name of the new key as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

Name the new key MobilityCenter
Right-click the newly created MobilityCenter key and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value (Figure D) with the name NoMobilityCenter. (Figure E)

Figure D

Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value

Figure E

Name the new DWORD NoMobilityCenter
Right-click the NoMobilityCenter and click the Modify menu item to get to the Value entry screen (Figure F). Change the Value data to 1. Click OK and exit the Registry Editor.

Figure F

Change to value data to 1 to disable the Windows Mobility Center

If you want to re-enable the Windows Mobility Center, just change the Value data to a zero.




Mark, I could not press win +X but following your reg tweak my system gained .17 gig ram back. Although the Vista system has 4 gig I still calculate that as 180 meg of ram!!!!! It somehow even though not active still saved me a lot of memory! Thank you very much. You are a smart gentleman. Ray C Spring Hill Florida


If this is an important registry fix, why don't you include a registry fix file to turn it on AND off.


As I understand it Windows Mobile Sync Center (as shown in the first screen shot in the online version of this article, NOT in the downloaded version) is a part of the Mobility center, and would disabling it cause people who do so to NOT be able to sync devices such as their smart phones or PDAs? I know you have in the last line included the re-enable instructions, so it could be reversed in this event but has any one checked it out? Thanks.


I hav Win7 Pro. I searched my computer and can't find Windows Mobility Center on it.

Mark W. Kaelin
Mark W. Kaelin

Do you use the Windows Mobility Center? Would you like to disable it?

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