Windows 10 Home - "Unauthorized changes blocked"

Anonymous
2017-12-05T21:26:24+00:00

THIS WAS ANSWERED BY ANDRE DA COSTA ON 12/5/17 - his "fix" worked perfectly - I thought I marked this "ANSWERED" - please check his answer, below this initial post.  

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/profile/e5564792-9930-4912-828b-e206924b132a

I'm using Windows 10 x64 Home on an HP laptop - Suddenly, I can no longer download photos from my SD card using the port on my laptop and my Photoshop Elements 15 - I get the following messages:

Unauthorized changes blocked

Controlled Folder Access blocked C:...\PhotoDownloader...from making changes to the folder %userprofil...$test$

Or:

Unauthorized changes blocked 

Controlled Folder Access blocked C:...\PhotoshopElement...from making changes to the folder %userprofile%\Documents

I want to use Photoshop in order to rename each photo as I download and I'm afraid this is completely blocking my use of Photoshop at all

I'm not computer literate so any help you can give needs to be in detailed, step by step format.

Thank you for any help you can offer

<Moved from Windows  / Windows 10  / Files, folders, & storage>

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2017-12-05T21:35:41+00:00

Open Windows Defender Security Center

Click Virus & threat protection

Click Virus & threat protection

Scroll down to the bottom then toggle off Controlled folder access

Try again

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-04T23:18:36+00:00

    I have been fighting my computer for two days trying to install an Autodesk program. Finally, someone has given me the solution, Thanks!

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  2. Monkey57 3,535 Reputation points
    2018-01-04T22:34:23+00:00

    Use the Windows Defender Security app to enable Controlled folder access

    1. Open the Windows Defender Security Center by clicking the shield icon in the task bar or searching the start menu for Defender.
    2. Click the Virus & threat protection tile (or the shield icon on the left menu bar) and then the Virus & threat protection settingslabel:
    3. Set the switch for the feature to On

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-protection/windows-defender-exploit-guard/enable-controlled-folders-exploit-guard

    Rather than, turning it Off, please consider using 'Controlled folder access' and becoming familiar with this Win10 enhancement to protect your safety and security.

    see also:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-protection/windows-defender-exploit-guard/controlled-folders-exploit-guard


    Also, consider turning on PUP protection in Windows Defender:

    PUA Protection is disabled by default and needs to be enabled. This is easy with PowerShell – just run this command line at the elevated PowerShell Prompt:

    Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection 1

    Then confirm that the value was reset by returning the current state for PUAProtection:

    $Preferences = Get-MpPreference

    $Preferences.PUAProtection

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_defender-protect_scanning-windows_10/windows-defender-not-detecting-known-adware/9cfe114b-8d1b-42a2-8268-34dc3acf9390?auth=1

    from GreginMich 's post.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-12-17T16:51:46+00:00

    Open Windows Defender Security Center

    Click Virus & threat protection

    Click Virus & threat protection

    Scroll down to the bottom then toggle off Controlled folder access

    Try again

    This answer fixed multiple "unauthorized changes to controlled folder" notifications I was getting.  I hope it actually isn't still blocking things, and just not notifying.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-12-05T21:55:01+00:00

    THANK  YOU!!!  This worked perfectly!

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