Is it possible to restrict executing an .exe on a network drive with Windows 7?

Question

Can Windows 7 be configured in a way to prevent a user to execute an .exe that is on a network drive, and if so, how could that be done?

Answer 1

If you want to prevent a specific executable, then Local Security policy might be the easiest route. Run secpol.msc from Start | Run. Navigate to Software Restriction Policies and right click on the tree node to create a new one. (This is the local version of group policy, which would have precedence in a domain.)

Within the policy under additional rules right click to create new path rule. Enter the path of the executable and security level of disallowed.

Two caveats:

• This requires Windows Professional/Enterprise/Ultimate.
• It is not clear how changing to a different drive mapping would work (using a hash rule would help here, but a rule would be needed for each file rather than having a rule for a folder tree).