Admin has set policies to prevent Installation | Windows 10 Fix

Last Updated on March 23, 2018

If you are getting an error something in the lines of “The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation” while installing any software package on your Windows system, the chances are that you are doing something wrong.

This error is among the many that Windows users have to face including lots of bugs and silly errors that most of us have no idea about.

Admin has set policies to prevent Installation

Most of the time, though, an error is accompanied by an error number like error 0x80004005 which helps the users to find out what it is all about. However in this case, where the Windows simply tells you nothing about what kind of error this is, finding a solution becomes an ache to get rid off.

System admin policies prevent installation

Fortunately for you, solving “The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation” error is easy to solve. In this post, we will discuss the procedure by which you will be able to install anything on your PC without worrying about the administrator permissions and other minute details.

How to fix the System administrator has set policies to prevent this installation error?

So, you are trying to install/uninstall a sweet app to (or from) your Windows PC and then this stupid error is bugging you. The error is actually asking you to take permission from the administrator account in order to let you install any bunch of software on that PC. “But I’m already using an admin account!“, you might say.

Well, you are not. What you are currently logged on is a sorta’ pseudo administrator account which is provided by default by Windows to prevent you from messing your PC up.

To solve the system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation error, you must change your current account to a true administrator account in order to proceed with the installation. Here are the steps.

  • Search for cmd in the start menu search. Look for the Command Prompt in the search results. Right click on it and press on Run as administrator.
  • Type net user administrator /active:yes without quotes. Hit Enter. It should say, “The command completed successfully”.
  • Close the command prompt. Restart your PC.

After your PC starts, you will see a new user account with the name “Administrator“. Click on it to log in. In this account, you can install or remove anything you want.

This will stop the system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation error from ever popping again on your PC. If you have any problems in following the procedure or anything else, please use to comment section to tell us.

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Written by Utkarsh

Utkarsh Bhatt is a certified tech expert and software engineer for a Fortune 500 Company. He was born in 1995, making him one of the oldest members of the team at EFX. Utkarsh loves solving technical issues and is always the first to jump on any problem that needs solving. When he’s not coding or debugging, he enjoys playing video games (especially Super Smash Bros.) and watching cartoons.

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17 thoughts on “Admin has set policies to prevent Installation | Windows 10 Fix”

      • well after unlocking my Admin account I login to it. Then i try to uninstal “microsoft office access database engine 2007” then i get error message “This action is only valid for products that are currently installed”, but when i try to install MS Office X64 i get a message to uninstall this particular program. Problem is that I don’t remember installing that program in the first place. I’m using Windows10.
        Also when I try to install or repair this software i get a message that I’m not an admin.

        Reply
        • The error that you are getting is just because the Office installation might be messed up on your PC. Log into your regular account and use Revo uninstaller to uninstall Office. You can then reinstall it to see if it works correctly or not. I was going to suggest you to repair office, but it’s not really working for you.

          As for the Access database engine 2007, I guess that it might have installed itself during a Windows update. Don’t worry about it, though.

          Reply
  1. hi ,
    I have window 10 dell laptop same problem i am facing even i have logged through administrator account . still am not able to install or delete can you please help me

    Reply
  2. Hi, I switched to Windows 10 last week. And I also get this message “system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation”. So, I did what you suggested, logged in as the “true administrator”. But the problem remains. I get the exact same message. It is a company-laptop. I’m trying to install some apps I use for training (from Garmin and Polar). Do you have a different suggestion?

    Reply
    • It’s quite typical of companies to restrict the usage of their laptops for employees. I guess you can do one thing.

      Search for Local security policy in the start menu search. Open it. Click on Software restrictions policy. Do you see any policies defined there? Your company’s IT people may have set one where you can’t install any unauthorized software on your laptop.

      While the Software restrictions policy is highlighted, look at the right pane. Double-click on Enforcement.

      Select “All users except local administrators” and press . Restart your PC and then try your installation. See if that works.

      Reply
  3. it denied the access… already worked around the sounds.. the registry notepad… the sound enhancement and battery power option.. does not allow me to do anything.

    Reply
  4. I did the command prompt step.. denied access… I try to run everything as the administrator the File System error (-1073741819)comes out =( already reset the the computer it still persist.. don’t know what to do no more. I am the only user.

    Reply
  5. On windows 10 latest build 1803 I am facing this issue. While installing `E80.71_CheckPointVPN.msi` I am seeing this `the system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation` error.

    I tried installing same app on Win-7 and there it is working fine, somehow not working on Win-10.

    I have already taken care of aforesaid steps.

    Reply
  6. adding one more thing. I am able to install all apps having .exe extension, however error occurred while installing apps having .msi installation.

    Any help will be appreciated. thanks in advance.

    Reply

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