What does the message "The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation" mean?

When you receive the message "The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation", a particular Local Security Policy setting may be preventing you from running installations involving MSI files.

Due to increasingly restrictive security settings and changing antivirus applications, we have found some users to have difficulty installing when they are using the WinZip EXE file (winzipxxx.exe). This file is a self-extracting Zip file which extracts a WinZip MSI file (winzipxxx.msi) along with other optional offers to the user's Temp folder and then runs the filess from there. In some cases, you can correct the issue by downloading and using the MSI file to install.

Please try the following:

1. Open Alternative Download Links
2. Download and Save the appropriate winzipxxx.msi file
3. When downloaded, right click winzipxxx.msi and choose Properties
4. In the Properties dialog, click Unblock
5. Double click winzipxxx.msi to begin installing WinZip

With Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista User Account Control may be involved in the issue. Temporarily turning User Account Control off may allow you to install. Please see the bottom section of the information for your Windows version in this article for the steps to turn UAC off.

If this does not eliminate the error, the Local Security Policy setting may need to be edited. With some operating systems, you can open the Group Policy Editor to do this (gpedit.msc). If you open this editor, in the left pane you will need to expand Computer Configuration, then Administrative Templates, then Windows Components, and finally you will need to click on Windows Installer. Now in the right pane you will need to double click Disable Windows Installer and change the setting from Enabled to Disabled.

With operating systems that are Home versions the Group Policy Editor is not available which would require you to edit the policy in the Registry. Here are steps for editing the registry:

1. Open the Registry Editor
   Windows 8:
   1. Open to or change to the Start menu screen
   2. Type: REGEDIT (this will show in the Search page)
   3. Press the Enter key on the keyboard
   Windows 7 and Windows Vista
   1. From the taskbar, click on the Start button
   2. Directly above Start, type: REGEDIT
   3. Press the Enter key on the keyboard
   Windows XP
   1. Click on Start and then click Run
   2. Type: REGEDIT
   3. Press the Enter key on the keyboard
2. Click Yes in the User Account Control dialog (if necessary)
3. Navigate to the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer
   To do this, click the triangle or plus sign next to each item listed until you get to Installer then click Installer in the left pane to display its values in the right pane
4. Right click DisableMSI (right pane), choose Modify, and change the value to 0
5. Close the Registry Editor

If you have any questions about this information, please email Technical Support.