For mmc.exe I get "This app has been blocked for your protection"

When I try to run anything that uses mmc.exe, I get the message "This app has been blocked for your protection" and "An administrator has blocked you from running this app." This happens even if I try to run whatever it is as administrator. This is preventing me using the services control panel and the device manager.

The background is that I have just upgraded to the Creator's Edition using the upgrade tool because Windows Update isn't working for me. The upgrade didn't fix the problem with Windows Update, but it appears to have created this additional problem.

AndreTen said:

I would try to fix update problem first. It also could have the same roots.

D you have any Grup policy restrictions applied? Tools like Cryptoprevent can do that..

Which version is your system? (15063.332 is the latest)

Thanks for replying. I have version 15063.332. I don't have any group policy restrictions to the best of my knowledge. I posted on the Microsoft forum as well and the Microsoft person suggested doing a clean boot and that sounds reasonable, so I'm going to try that first. If that gets mmc.exe working, then I can stop the UpdateOrchestrator service and if I can do that I have a chance of repairing WindowsUpdate.

I finally managed to stop the wuauserv and bits services and delete the contents of \Windows\SoftwareDistribution, so hopefully that will have solved the update problems. I was able to run an app that uses mmc.exe (namely the Services control panel) when logged in to the admin account, but I still can't run it when I am logged in as a normal administrator.

How do I get round this if the "app" in question that is being blocked is mme.exe, which is an essential part of Windows and is necessary in order to use things like control panels and the device manager? I can't switch to the administrator account every time I want to use a control panel.

Brink said:

Do you mean "mmc.exe" instead?

Yes, that's the one. I keep getting MMC and MME muddled up in my brain.