Windows 11 Won't Run the EXE

[KennWK]

We've always had custom toolbars for our production computers and SystemTrayMenu seems like a great alternative. But, for the life of me I can't get Windows 11 to run the EXE.

I've tried adding it to the Virus & threat protection settings as an exception and restarting the computer among other things but to no avail.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!
Ken

[Hofknecht]

Hi Ken,
This might be a Windows security or policy related on Windows 11.
You could try the following:
Right-click the EXE → Properties → Unblock (if available)
Move it to a local folder (e.g. C:\Tools) and run as Administrator
Temporarily disable SmartScreen / Microsoft Defender / Antivirus software or Controlled Folder Access
Make sure it’s fully extracted (not running from ZIP / Downloads)
Try launching it via Command Prompt to see if any error appears
Check if company policies (AppLocker / WDAC) might be blocking it
As a last option, you could try the version from the Microsoft Store, since apps there are signed and usually not blocked.
Let us know if this helps
we’d really appreciate your feedback!

[Hofknecht]

Please check also the windows event viewer -> Windows logs -> Application
Maybe we see there something?

[KennWK]

Well, this is a more than a little embarrassing! Initially I tried it from a network drive. Having noticed that Windows 11 doesn't like things from the network drives (even though I've tried to tell it the location is safe) I tried it from the local drive. But! When I copied it to the local drive I somehow managed to not copy the entire folder.

Your suggestion of the Event Viewer showed it was missing a dll that I hadn't copied.

I recopied the entire folder to the local drive and it works great!

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to get my knuckle-head squared away.

[Hofknecht]

@KennWK
Thank you for your feedback!
i am happy that we found and solved it.