Windows – How to unblock exe-file and windows-help-chm-file on a mapped network drive using Windows Server 2008 Active Directory group policy

active-directorygroup-policySecuritywindowswindows-server-2008

We have a mapped drive M: in our Server 2008 R2 64 AD Domain.

There is an important exe and a windows help file on the drive that all users need to access from there.

How can I remove the security restriction on the windows help chm file, so that also the content and not only the table of contents is visible? And also I would like to remove the confirmation dialog that prompts on each start of the exe file.

Please note that I cannot move the files to a local drive, they need to be started from the mapped M: AD share. And I need a centralized solution, I cannot walk to each client computer, actually I am at a
different location and have only RDP access to the DCs. So i think an AD Group Policy Setting should do it, but which one and how?

Maybe the file permissions on the share also need to be adjusted?

This is how the drive is mapped:

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Best Answer

CHM located on network shares have been blocked by Microsoft for security reason.

You can bypass this restriction by making the following modification to your registry database:

In the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions key, add a new string value called UrlAllowList

In this key, add all the pathes where your CHM can potentially be located separated by comas. Beware that you'll need to list all the possible pathes (UNC names and drive mappings if they can be reached in both way) and that you will have to add each value twice: once alone and once with the string file:// in front

For instance, assuming your CHM file is in the w:\program\help path, you will need to enter the following data value:

UrlAllowList=w:\program\help\;file://w:\program\help\

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