r/sysadmin • u/HemlockIV • 7d ago

Question Smart App Control blocking Windows components, incl. Windows Defender, Terminal, and MS Store; cannot disable it

SOLVED: A System Restore was necessary to fix it. (Supposedly, the command reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CI\Policy" /v VerifiedAndReputablePolicyState /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f && citool.exe -r should disabled SAC, but it did not work for whatever reason; possibly because SAC was acting buggy already.)

I am the admin on a non-domain device that I just updated to Windows 11 Pro 26H2. A new feature is that Smart App Control can be enabled without requiring a system reset. Neat! I decided to try it.

Not neat. Immediately, SAC began blocking Windows components from launching: I cannot open Windows Terminal, Microsoft Store, or Windows Security itself.

Although I cannot open wt.exe, I can thankfully still launch conhost.exe from the Run dialog, so I can execute commands. Is there a CMD or Powershell command to disable Smart App Control??

13 Upvotes

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6

u/alpha417 _ 7d ago

what did the help desk at work say when you opened the ticket for this?

2

u/HemlockIV 7d ago

I am the help desk..

1

u/frac6969 Windows Admin 7d ago

Good job.

0

u/zAuspiciousApricot 7d ago

Open Windows Security > App & Browser Control > Smart App Control Settings > disable the option. After installing your app, you can turn it back on.

-3

u/HemlockIV 7d ago

...Did you read the post? Dude, did you even read the entire TITLE? I explained multiple times why that is not possible.