Hey everyone, I'm having trouble launching the 64-bit version of PowerShell. The 32-bit version works fine, but when I click the icon in the start menu for the 64-bit version, nothing happens. I've also tried running it from the command prompt with admin rights, but I keep getting an 'access denied' error, even when I try to run it directly from the system32 folder. I've checked all the permissions and ran system checks like sfc and dism, and everything seems to be in order. Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas on what could be causing this? Thanks!
4 Answers
Have you checked the notification center for any alerts from Windows Defender? Sometimes the Attack Surface Reduction rules can be pretty aggressive and block things like PowerShell unexpectedly. Also, what version of PowerShell are you using, and what build of Windows do you have?
You might want to try reaching out in a tech chat or messenger app for further assistance!
It sounds like it might be a permissions issue caused by something like AppLocker, a security program, or possibly some rogue permissions messing things up. It's worth checking those out.
You should try running PowerShell as an admin and check the execution policy using Get-ExecutionPolicy. If it's set to 'Restricted', change it to 'RemoteSigned' with Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser. I had a similar issue on Windows 11 and fixing the execution policy helped, along with temporarily disabling real-time antivirus protection. Don’t forget to reboot afterward!
I just tried that, but unfortunately it didn't work for me. The execution policy was restricted, and I changed it as suggested.
Funny how they overlooked the x86 version being fine!