This App Has Been Blocked for Your Protection in Windows 10

When running some applications, apps or setup installers, the programs may be blocked from running in Windows 10 with the following error message in User Account Control dialog box:

This app has been blocked for your protection.

An administrator has blocked you from running this app. For more information, contact the administrator.

Filename.exe

Publisher: Unknown / Not trusted
File origin: Hard drive on this computer / Download from web
Program Location: “File Path”
Show information about publisher’s certificate

The blocking of some applications from running in Windows 10 is due to security protection, especially when the application was digitally signed with a revoked or untrusted certificate. The problem happens even when you’re logging in with a user account in Administrators group user group, or run the app as Administrator.

If you trust the app or program, you can use one of the following workarounds listed in the tutorial to bypass the Windows 10 Smartscreen filtering to install or run the app.

Method 1: Run the App from Elevated Administrator Command Prompt

To run an elevated Command Prompt, use of the methods to open an elevated Command Prompt as Administrator.

Inside the Administrator: Command Prompt, type in the full path to the executable that you want to run. If the full path to the file contains special characters or space, enclose the path within quotation mark (“”). For example,

C:\WINDOWS\system32>"C:\Users\username\Downloads\Internet Downloads\blockedfile.exe"

Hit Enter when done. You can close Command Prompt window anytime.

Method 2: Disable Admin Approval Mode & Disable UAC via Group Policy

Admin Approval Mode restricts the privileges to built-in Administrator account and all other users who are members of the Administrators group, directly contribute to the app is blocked problem.

To disable the Admin Approval Mode, follow these steps:

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor by searching for gpedit.msc.
2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.
3. In the right pane, double-click on User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode.
4. Change the security setting to Disabled.

   

5. Hit OK or Apply.
6. Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

Method 3: Completely Disable UAC via Registry

1. Open Registry Editor by searching for regedit.
2. Navigate to the following registry key:

   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. In the right pane, double click on EnableLUA.
4. Change its value data to 0 (default value is 0).

   
5. Hit OK when done.
6. Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

Method 4: Run the Program with Built-in Administrator Account

The built-in Administrator account in Windows 10 has less restriction that user accounts in Administrators group, even when UAC is enabled. Thus, the “this app has been blocked for your protection” error can be fixed by running the installer or executable in the built-in Administrator account.

1. Before you’re able to sign into built-in Administrator account, you need to enable the built-in Administrator account.
2. Switch user or sign out the current user.
3. Sign in with the Administrator user account.
4. Run or install the blocked app.
5. You can choose to switch user or sign out the Administrator account to sign back in to your user account.
6. Once installed, the application would run without being blocked by UAC SmartScreen.
7. You can now disable the built-in Administrator account.