software restriction policy

falcon7 · Oct 3, 2014

Malware or system problem?

I can't run any of my installed programs on either of my 2 user accounts, and even if I download new programs, they won't run either.
The message that I get when trying to open any program is

"Windows cannot open this program because it has been prevented by a software restriction policy. For more information, contact your system administrator."

Unfortunately I am the administrator and only user and I'm stuck with it. :confused
A possible way to solve the problem would be to use a program that doesn't require installation to assess and cure this malfunction, if there is one.

Can anyone suggest any way of moving forward from this?

Win7 pro 32bit SP1 on emachines desktop. Thanks.

chaslang · Oct 3, 2014

Welcome to Major Geeks!

I'm not sure if your problems are due to malware or not because permissions issues like this have frrequently occurred in Windows 7. However see if you can get the below to run.

Be patient while doing the below. The fixes can sometimes take quite awhile to run. Especially the permissions repairs. It may be best to kick it off and goto bed or do something else. It is better not to run anything while the repairs are going on.

Download Windows Repair by Tweaking.com and unzip the contents into a newly created folder on your desktop.

Now run Repair_Windows.exe by double clicking on it ( if you are running Vista or Win 7, use right click and select Run As Administrator)

Now select the Start Repairs tab.

The click the Start button.

Create a System Restore point if prompted.

On the next screen, click the Unselect All button to first deselect all repairs.

Now select the following repair options:

Reset Registry Permissions

Reset File Permissions

Register System Files

Repair WMI

Remove Policies Set By Infections

Repair Winsock & DNS Cache

Repair Proxy Settings

Repair Windows Updates

Repair MSI (Windows Installer)

Now on the lower right side check the box to Restart/Shutdown System When Finished

Then make sure the Restart System radio button is enabled.

Shutdown any other programs that you are running now before continuing.

Now click the Start button.

Be patient while the tool repairs the selected items.

It should reboot automatically when finished. If it does not then reboot it yourself.

If you run into a problem getting even the above to run then reboot in safe boot mode and try to run it.

Any help?

falcon7 · Oct 4, 2014

Thanks for the comprehensive instructions on using Windows Repair, I've printed them off for easy reference later.

However I didn't get as far as using them because the software restriction wouldn't allow me to even unzip the downloaded files. It seems that when I try to run any software on my system, the restriction prevents me from doing so. I can't even run System Restore.

Getting on the Internet is not too bad as one of my games programs connects to it directly using the default browser. So possibly one way forward would be to run recovery software remotely somehow but I haven't been able to find a suitable program that will do that yet.

I have a Laptop running XP that is available to me but I'm reluctant to connect it to this PC on a network as I don't want that one infected as well.
Using a LINUX distro somehow may possibly be a way forward too.

Thanks for the help so far.

chaslang · Oct 4, 2014

Did you try running in safe boot mode?

You could download and extract on another PC and then copy to this PC. I really doubt your problem is due to malware.

You may want to take a look at the below to see if it is of any help.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc737011(v=ws.10).aspx

https://www.microsoft.com/resources...ll/proddocs/en-us/safer_trouble.mspx?mfr=true

falcon7 · Oct 5, 2014

Sorted

Working in safe mode with command prompt was the key. Thanks. But I'll run Windows Repair shortly to make sure that there's nothing else else likely to cause problems.

A setting in GPEDIT.MSC had changed.
In the local group settings, under the windows/security item, there is a heading for Software Restriction Policy and there the default option was set to disallowed. I changed that to unrestricted and after a reboot, I could open programs again:-D

Thanks again for the help.

chaslang · Oct 6, 2014

You're welcome. Glad to hear you got it working.

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software restriction policy

falcon7 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

falcon7 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

falcon7 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member