Windows cannot open this program... restriction policy

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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French_lolo

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Windows cannot open this program... restriction policy

#1

Post by French_lolo » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:45 pm

Hello,
After installed WMC10 on W10-64, when launching first, I have message box : "Windows cannot open this program because it has been prevented by a software restriction policy. For more information, cotact your system administrator".
I found some information to change something in the registry.

--> Browse to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER, SOFTWARE, Policies, Microsoft, and select WindowsMediaCenter
On the list to the right look for an item named MediaCenter. If it is there, check the Data column and ensure it is set to zero [0 ]. If it isn’t double click on the item and enter the number zero [0 ] in the Value data field then press OK.

But I don't have WindowsMediaCenter under the location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER, SOFTWARE, Policies, Microsoft.
How can I solve this ?
Thank you.

Lolo

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DavidinCT

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#2

Post by DavidinCT » Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:49 pm

French_lolo wrote:Hello,
After installed WMC10 on W10-64, when launching first, I have message box : "Windows cannot open this program because it has been prevented by a software restriction policy. For more information, cotact your system administrator".
I found some information to change something in the registry.

--> Browse to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER, SOFTWARE, Policies, Microsoft, and select WindowsMediaCenter
On the list to the right look for an item named MediaCenter. If it is there, check the Data column and ensure it is set to zero [0 ]. If it isn’t double click on the item and enter the number zero [0 ] in the Value data field then press OK.

But I don't have WindowsMediaCenter under the location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER, SOFTWARE, Policies, Microsoft.
How can I solve this ?
Thank you.

Lolo
What version of WMC did your install ? And Did you run the "test" permissions AND reboot before installing ?

Only time I have seen this in the past is where the installer person Rushed to get it installed and skipped over the test and didn't have to correct permissions to install OR had a really old version.

Make sure you have the NEWEST version, Re-download it... Right click on it and go to pproperties and select "UNBLOCK" (VERY IMPORTANT), THen Extract the file, Run test permissions, IF it opens to a command prompt right away, then you should be ok.. Just to be safe I would run the test as an administrator, then reboot your computer. After it reboots, install WMC.

I would select the uninstall option, clean up the files and retry with the directions above.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

Saintor

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#3

Post by Saintor » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:06 am

Just because of WMC, my three computers ' Windows 10 Pro 64 are stuck in 2017... confirmed by the Update History on each (just checked again).

Two of them have 1607 no issue.

The third has 1703, v8.8.1 GREEN ran for more than two years and now I get the same message as OP. I wonder why and no recent update happened (as per log)

Is my best option to

uninstall both KB4022405/KB4041676 which brought 1703 (I think) [EDIT:Tried that and now Windows won't let remove them!]
or
uninstall v8.8.1 and install v8.8.4 or v13
or
is there some kind of minor registry or DLL tweaking that will remove that constraint? (wishful thinking I know)

technodevotee

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#4

Post by technodevotee » Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:32 am

I don't have the registry entry cited and WMC runs fine for me.

Generally speaking, as @DavidinCT says, the best thing to do is to uninstall whatever you have and install the latest version.

Unless you use DVBLink, there no reason not to install V8.8.4. It works perfectly on most people's Windows 10 with no additional effort.

The only reason to install V13 is if you want to run WMC full screen in Remote Desktop. It requires additional effort to make it work in later versions of Windows 10.

Saintor

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#5

Post by Saintor » Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:21 pm

technodevotee wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:32 am
Unless you use DVBLink, there no reason not to install V8.8.4. It works perfectly on most people's Windows 10 with no additional effort.
Newbie question; is DVBLink required to use WMC as a PVR? I use TV tuners that share an antenna (no cable).

technodevotee

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#6

Post by technodevotee » Wed Sep 11, 2019 3:26 am

DVBLink IS a PVR with sharing and plugins for WMC.

1ST1

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#7

Post by 1ST1 » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:22 am

Do you know what "Software Restriction Policy" is? If not, I'll explain and give tipps later.

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