Today I needed to install a utility on a remote Windows 2003 server. Thinking this would be a breeze, I copied the .exe installation file over the network to a directory on the server. I then logged in through RDP as local administrator on the server, located the file, and when I went to run it, I was given this error spat out to me: “Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.  You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.”

Huh? I’m the local admin on this here system… the hell you say I don’t have permissions to access this file!

A quick search found that if you copy an executable to a remote system and try to run it via RDP, you get this message because the file is blocked by the operating system since it was copied from another computer. Apparently this is done to try and ‘protect’ the destination computer.

Here’s the quick fix for it: Right-click on the executable file. On the General tab, you will see at the bottom (under the Attributes area) a section for “Security” that has an explaination for you. It says “This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer”. (good lookin out, windows) Just click on the “Unblock” button, then click the “OK” button and try running the .exe again.

Boom! You’re done. Now, wasn’t that simple?