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Windows: Fix “We can’t verify who created this file” Error

By Mitch Bartlett 12 Comments

I often launch .exe and .vbs files from network drives that are mapped to many different computers. Because of the security features built into Microsoft Windows, users may often receive an “Open File – Security Warning” dialog box that says “We can’t verify who created this file. Are you sure you want to open this file?” when opening files from locations other than the local computer. If you encounter this error often, and would like to save the extra step of clicking the Open button, you can setup the file location as a trusted site.

  1. Select “Start“, then type “Internet Options“.
  2. Open “Internet Options“.
  3. Select the “Security” tab.
  4. Select “Local intranet“, then select the “Sites” button.
    Local Intranet Sites Selection Internet Properties
  5. Choose the “Advanced” button on the “Local intranet” dialog box that appears.
    Local Intranet Advanced Button
  6. Type the location of the file that produces the warning. The path could be a mapped network drive or a UNC path like “\\Server1”. In this case, my test.vbs file was on the Z: drive. So I will type “Z:“, then press “Add“.
    Add Local Intranet location
  7. The path may change once it’s added to the “Websites” box. This is normal behavior.
    Intranet Location Added
  8. Select “Close” > “OK” > “OK“.

Now you should be able to open any file from that location without receiving the “We can’t verify who created this file” error.

There are other methods for curing this and similar errors in Windows. See How to Disable the “Open File Security Warning” in Windows @ SevenForums for more information.

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Filed Under: Windows Tagged With: Windows 10

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. George says

    March 26, 2021 at 11:03 am

    I have mapped drives for years and never had this happen.
    Great fix.

  2. Ronny D'Hoore says

    December 3, 2020 at 9:25 am

    I didn’t expect this to work in Windows Server 2019, but it does, except that step 5 is not applicable, as there was no Advanced button, and I immediately got the screen from step 6.

  3. Don says

    September 9, 2020 at 8:11 am

    Thanks! Fixed the error when running a HTA script from a network drive

  4. Muhammad Tahir says

    January 9, 2019 at 1:16 am

    Excellent… Thanks a lot… Its working fine…

  5. M Scott says

    November 23, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    THANK YOU!!! Worked 100% 1 of 2 issues I am having is now solved.

    Now if only I could prevent my printer from printing a blank page next. HAHA

  6. Radhakrishnan says

    November 20, 2018 at 8:45 am

    Yes it works! After adding up the file location in network to local intranet zone, i am able to get rid of error msg: “We can’t verify who created this file”. Useful guidance. Thank you….

  7. Barry says

    December 2, 2016 at 4:18 am

    Whenever I enter anything into Trusted Sites or Local Intranet it is being added with wildcards, which I don’t want. i.e. file://domain.local gets changed to file://*.domain.local.

    When I try to run a file from \\domain.local\netlogon\whatever.exe it still stops it running. Likewise if I run it from DC.domain.local.

    Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong?

  8. tony says

    November 17, 2016 at 7:34 pm

    very helpful!!

  9. giew says

    October 12, 2016 at 2:25 am

    thanks for the tips~~~ it’s workkkkkk

  10. Matt Estell says

    May 3, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    excellent! thanks much

  11. Jennifer Lynne Flint says

    January 11, 2016 at 4:58 pm

    Thank you! That worked great on Parallels. :)

  12. James Barnes says

    January 4, 2016 at 11:37 am

    Excellent Tip

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