Tag: Registry

How to copy program settings from the registry of one Windows machine to another

Some programs still save their settings in the Windows registry. The instructions below will let you copy a part of the registry to another machine.

Important: Modifying the registry can have unintended consequences and may cause issues with your system. Always make sure to create a backup of your registry and a system restore point before making any changes.

  1. On the source machine:
    • Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
    • Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor. If prompted by User Account Control, click “Yes” to proceed.
    • In the Registry Editor, navigate to the registry key you want to copy. For example, if you want to copy a key related to a specific software, it might be located under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\.
    • Right-click on the registry key you want to export (in the left panel) and select “Export.”
    • Choose a location to save the .reg file, give it a name, and click “Save.”
  2. Transfer the .reg file to the destination machine using a USB drive, cloud storage, or any other preferred method.
  3. On the destination machine:
    • Locate the .reg file you transferred from the source machine.
    • Double-click the .reg file to start the import process. If prompted by User Account Control, click “Yes” to proceed.
    • A warning message will appear, informing you that making changes to the registry can cause system instability. If you’re sure you want to proceed, click “Yes.”
    • A confirmation message will appear once the registry key has been successfully imported. Click “OK” to close the message.

Now, the desired part of the registry has been copied from the source machine to the destination machine.

Note: If any of the registry values include file paths, you might need to adjust these paths to match the file structure on your new system.

Solution: Your administrator has blocked this application because it potentially poses a security risk to your computer

The Problem: Your administrator has blocked this application…

You’re trying to install a ClickOnce application and get an error message saying: “Your administrator has blocked this application because it potentially poses a security risk to your computer”:
Your administrator has blocked this application because it potentially poses a security risk to your computer

You are the administrator and don’t remember blocking any applications (if you’re not the admin, contact them instead of reading this article).

The reason this is happening

The ClickOnce trust prompt is disabled on your operating system, so instead of a dialog (prompt) which allows you to either proceed with the installation or not, you just get the message above.

The solution

You can change the ClickOnce trust prompt behavior by editing the registry subkeys under:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\.NETFramework\Security\TrustManager\PromptingLevel

There should be five subkeys, one for each security zone:
Registry trustmanager promptinglevel

Each subkey can have one of the following values:

  • Disabled: No trust prompt is shown, instead you get the error message above.
  • Enabled: A trust prompt is shown.
  • AuthenticodeRequired: A trust prompt is shown only for signed applications (other applications cannot be installed).

Trust prompt example

If the application you’re trying to install has been published on the Internet, you’ll want to set the Internet subkey to “Enabled” (or to “AuthenticodeRequired” if the application has been digitally signed). You should then see a trust prompt instead of the “your administrator has blocked this application” error:
Trust Prompt - do you want to install this application

Free Trust Prompt Tool

As an alternative to editing the registry manually, you can also use a free trust prompt tool I wrote:

Trust Prompt Tool

It allows you to easily display and modify the trust prompt configuration.

Notes:

  • If you don’t trust yourself or other people using your PC, you can change the respective zone setting back to “Disabled” after installing the ClickOnce application. The trust prompt configuration has no effect on installed applications and their updates.
  • You could also add the publisher’s site to your trusted sites and only enable trust prompts for the TrustedSites subkey.
  • Are you wondering why all your trust prompt settings have been changed to “Disabled”? Unfortunately, I have no idea. I’ve had this happen on multiple PCs and I’m pretty sure I didn’t do this myself.

Supporting my work and this blog

I am always happy to read nice comments. If you’re feeling generous, you can purchase a PDF version of this article for US$2 by clicking here. Thank you!

This link was added on March 18, 2020 and the total amount after fees received so far is: US$20.61.