A PC shared with multiple people can become a tough nut to crack: time to move away a bit and we find ourselves with new applications we’ve never seen before, new auto-starting apps (which slow down the PC) and a desktop full of useless icons.
However, it can block the installation of new programs or games on Windows 11, so as to prevent the installation of unauthorized applications. Installing a new program will therefore require permission from the PC administrator (i.e. the password of our account).
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1) Create standard user
The easiest and fastest way to prevent the installation of programs is to create a standard user without any administrative rightsto be used by all users who are not very good at using the PC or who often install new suspicious or unknown applications.
First of all, it’s convenient add a password or PIN immediately to the administrator account in use at that precise moment, in order to protect it from unwanted access.
To further strengthen the security of the administrator account we recommend that you Sign in with a Microsoft accountso as to make everything possible impossible Windows password recovery or reset.
Now that the administrator account is protected we access it, press WIN+I on the keyboard (or let’s search Settings from the Start menu), let’s take you on the path Accounts -> Other users and press on Add account.
To create a local account (without a Microsoft account) we now press on I don’t have this person’s login informationthen up Add a user without a Microsoft account and follow the final instructions to create a local account.
To learn more we can read our guide on how to create a user account on windows.
2) Force installation from the Microsoft Store
If, however, we only want to prevent the installation of applications downloaded from the Internet via installers (which often hide surprises or viruses), we can strengthen security by forcing the installation of only apps coming from the Microsoft Store (where all apps are checked and verified by Microsoft itself).
To prevent the installation of insecure programs, press WIN+I on the keyboard, take us to the path Apps -> Advanced settings for appspress on the drop-down menu next to the item Choose where to download apps from and we select Microsoft Store only (recommended).
On this topic we can read our guides on how to download apps from the Windows Store come on how to use the Windows Microsoft Store to download and update apps.
3) Block app installation from group policy
Those who want to act as IT experts can instead apply the restriction to the installation of apps used group policies; this trick is effective only on the Pro version of Windows 11where the group policies editor is present.
To proceed with this trick all you have to do is open the Start menu, search gpedit (or Group Policy Editor) and take us to the following path:
Configurazione computer/Modelli amministrativi/Componenti di Windows/Windows Installer
Once we reach this path we press on Disable Windows Installerwe press on Activatedconfirm and restart the PC for the changes to take effect.
We will thus have created a totally closed PC (kiosk type) on which it is impossible to install programs unless we proceed with the reverse operation. To learn more we can read our guides on how to use the Windows Local Group Policy editor (gpedit.msc) come on how to reset group policies on windows in case of problems.
4) Block app installation from the system registry
On Windows 11 Home we can block installations by making a simple change to the system registry, without having to change the version of the operating system.
To proceed, let’s go to the Start menu and search regedit and open the Registry Editor; once the editor is open we reach the following path:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Msi.Package
Once we get here we double click on the string Default It is in the Value datainsert the following string:
C:\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe,1
We confirm and restart the PC for the changes to take effect. Before proceeding we always recommend making a backup of the registry, as also seen in the guide on Registry backup and key recovery in Windows.
Conclusions
All the methods shown in this guide will allow you to block the installation of programs on Windows 11allowing installation only for administrator users or completely blocking the possibility of installing new programs (a sort of kiosk mode, but in this case we will have to install all the necessary apps first).
To learn more we can read how to use Kiosk in Windows 11 and 10 to lock your PC to an app come on how to protect opening Chrome, Firefox, Edge with password.