Unblock Files In Windows 8 Using PowerShell And Registry

introduction

in case you haven’t noticed, the following “ unblock ” button is missing from windows 8 file properties.

this can be a tad annoying when downloading zip files from the internet and answering security prompt after prompt to get the file loaded. so, what did i do? i fixed it by using powershell and a quick registry entry.

the solution

note: if you don’t want to dig into the registry yourself then you can just download the completed .reg file here .

create a new registry entry in : hkey_classes_root\*\shell\ and call it powershell, now set the data to be “ unblock files ”.

underneath the powershell key we just created, add a new key called command and set the data to be c:\\windows\\system32\\windowspowershell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe unblock-file  -literalpath '%l'

just copy and paste that entire line.

now if you right click on a file or files, then you will see the option to “ unblock files ”

also as stated earlier, you can download a .reg file from here to avoid performing any of this work. the contents of the registry file are as follows:

windows registry editor version 5.00

[hkey_classes_root\*\shell\powershell]
@="unblock files"

[hkey_classes_root\*\shell\powershell\command]
@="c:\\\\windows\\\\system32\\\\windowspowershell\\\\v1.0\\\\powershell.exe unblock-file  -literalpath '%l'"

wrap-up

i hope this helped! thanks for reading.

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