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.

The “latest and greatest” bits of all Microsoft Products can be found below.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Download | VS11 Beta Download | Azure SDK | Azure Trial | Windows Phone SDK | WebMatrix