Windows – “This file came from another computer…” – how can I unblock all the files in a folder without having to unblock them individually

ntfsSecuritywindows

Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista have this deal where zone information is preserved in downloaded files to NTFS partitions, such that it blocks certain files in certain applications until you "unblock" the files.

So for example if you download a zip file of source code to try something out, every file will display this in the security settings of the file properties

"This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer"

Along with an "Unblock" button. Some programs don't care, but Visual Studio will refuse to load projects in solutions until they've been unblocked.

While it's not terribly difficult to go to every project file and unblock it individually, it's a pain. And it does not appear you can unblock multiple selected files simultaneously.

Is there any way to unblock all files in a directory without having to go to them all individually?

I know you can turn this off globally for all new files but let's say I don't want to do that

Best Answer

If you download a .ZIP and unzip it, the individual files will be marked as the same zone as the .ZIP. Almost every time I have a folder full of "blocked" files, this is how I got them.

Before unzipping, click the Unblock button on the .ZIP.

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When a file is downloaded, you may notice in the file properties dialog there is an additional Security section with an Unblock checkbox:

This additional data about the file is stored in an Alternate Data Stream (ADS). Alternate Data Streams can be viewed in a number of ways, with tools such as Streams but now more conveniently with PowerShell.

For example, to view all the streams of a file, the following PowerShell command can be used:

Get-Item -Path Autologon.exe -Stream *

The output is as follows:

PSPath        : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\ads\Autologon.exe::$DATA
PSParentPath  : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\ads
PSChildName   : Autologon.exe::$DATA
PSDrive       : C
PSProvider    : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem
PSIsContainer : False
FileName      : C:\ads\Autologon.exe
Stream        : :$DATA
Length        : 138920

PSPath        : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\ads\Autologon.exe:Zone.Identifier
PSParentPath  : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\ads
PSChildName   : Autologon.exe:Zone.Identifier
PSDrive       : C
PSProvider    : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem
PSIsContainer : False
FileName      : C:\ads\Autologon.exe
Stream        : Zone.Identifier
Length        : 26

For the purposes of this question, it is the Zone.Identifier stream that we are interested in.

To manually add or update a Zone.Identifier named stream and set the value of the stream, we can run the following PowerShell command:

Set-Content -Path .\file.exe -Stream Zone.Identifier -Value '[ZoneTransfer]','ZoneId=3'

Where the ZoneId specified can be one of the following values:

0 = "Local machine"
1 = "Local intranet"
2 = "Trusted sites"
3 = "Internet"
4 = "Restricted sites"

Note: To remove a ZoneTransfer stream from a file and therefore perform the same operation as unblocking the file from the file properties dialog, you can run either of the following commands:

Unblock-File -path .\file.exe
Remove-Item -Path .\file.exe -Stream Zone.Identifier

Best Answer

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