“You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item” when running an exe on Windows Server

Whilst installing Trend Micro OfficeScan on a remote server, I hit the following dialog box:

“Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.  You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item”

Now the item in question was simply a executable patch which I’d copied onto the machine remotely.   I checked the permissions and Administrator (who I was logged in as) had full control of the file so should be able to execute it?

Turns out it’s a feature of Windows server which detects that the file has been transferred from another machine and blocks it!

It’s simple to fix if you see this – simply right click on the file and select properties.   At the bottom of the window will be an “unblock” button as shown below:

Simply hit this button and you’ll be able to run the exe again!  

I’ve seen other reports that the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security feature may also cause this error, however this appears to be related to exes run from network paths.   You may want to try disabling this feature if the above doesn’t help?