App Permissions No Access

Question

I encountered this error saying The administrator has disabled this functionality. I want to get rid of this error because I want to start Phone Link when I turn on my PC.

Answer 1

Dear Sami Joy,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A.

I’m sorry to hear you’re running into the "The administrator has disabled this functionality" error when trying to start Phone Link on your PC.

For this issue, we could try some troubleshoots to see if it can fix:

1. Try with a new user profile:
   • Press Windows + R > Type netplwiz > Add a new admin account
   • Log into the new account and test Phone Link
2. Reset Phone Link:
   • Go to Settings > System > System components
   • Find Phone Link, select three dots > Advanced options
   • Under Reset, you could select Repair and Reset. Then try Phone Link again
3. Disable Group Policy restriction (If applicable):
   • Press Windows + R, type gpedit.msc > Enter
   • Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Phone Link
   • Look for a setting like “Turn off Phone Link” or “Disable Phone Link functionality”
   • If it’s set to Enabled, double-click it, change it to Disabled or Not Configured, and click Apply > OK.
   • Restart your PC and test Phone Link.
4. Add Phone Link to Startup:
   • Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
   • Go to Startup tab, find Phone Link
   • If it's listed, ensure it's enabled.
   • If not, click File > Run new task > Type shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App and check Create this task with administrative privileges, then click OK
   • Restart your computer

If nothing works, you can also try to fix the issue by performing an In-place Upgrade. Please read this Reinstall Windows with the installation media - Microsoft Support

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Best regards, 

Bryan Vu | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist