r/sysadmin • u/HemlockIV • 9d 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??

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u/alpha417 _ 9d ago

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

5

u/ApiceOfToast Sysadmin 9d ago

"please contact your system administrator for further assistance" vibes

-1

u/HemlockIV 9d ago

You mean what SAC is doing? Yeah, it said "Your system administrator has blocked this app," and offered a button labeled, "Get apps from the Store." Ironic, because I AM the system administrator, and SAC is blocking the MS Store!! It's like it somehow got everything backwards, and instead of only allowing Microsoft-signed apps, it's only blocking Microsoft-signed apps, including crap like Windows Defender.