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Security Risk - Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of this file is untrusted

Anonymous
2022-06-20T14:27:55+00:00

The error has a link that takes you here

A potentially dangerous macro has been blocked (microsoft.com)

However the option to check mark unblock does not exist on the file. There is nothing below attributes. This page makes no sense to me, I have never in my entire IT career seen this option that supposedly should be there.

I have gone into Options > Trust center > Trusted Location.
I have checked Allow trusted locations on my network.
I have then tried to add the location of the share drive.

I get "The path you have used cannot be used as a trusted location for security reasons".
Quite frustrated at this point I created a registry entry with the file share. (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\Security\Trusted Locations)

The network drive now shows as the file share as a trusted location in excel.
I still get the same Security risk error.

These files have existed for quite some time and we have never had this issue previously. If there were any recent changes or updates I am unaware of them. Moving the file locally to my computer gets rid of the error but this is not a solution as the files need to be on the network drive. This error affects multiple macro files on the share drive not just a single file.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows

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Anonymous
2022-10-19T07:51:08+00:00

Hi Folks,

Same issues for me... We have built a business around sharing files online via one drive folders, inside these folders we have excel files with clever VBA.

With this security update we are wiped out. No one can update the files and work online. After countless tickets with microsoft and numerous screen shares with their support we got nowhere! Over the last few days I have switched every conceivable setting on/off, tried certificates etc and no one could solve our issue.

I finally stumbled upon a solution myself, I had been coping the url direct from one drive and making that a 'trusted source' which does not work.... Then it finally clicked with me that the file is being opened 'locally' in a download folder so the issue is not one drive rather it's the download folder that is blocking the macros from running.

Here is the steps I took to fix the issue....

  1. Go to your ( main ) folder on one drive where you store the files, if you have sub folders then it's the top folder we are looking for, ie the parent folder.
  2. Right click file, open with Excel App..... ( Not excel online ).... The security warning will come up "Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of this file is untrusted"
  3. Click 'file' on excel, then look for the file you have just opened in the list of options below
  4. Right click on the file itself and mouse scroll to 'open file location' then goto the address bar and copy this address.... for me this is https://d.docs.live.net/ then lots unique of numbers.... I omitted the numbers and stopped it at the forward slash /.
  5. Once you have copied this address, cross away and then go to the file section and click options at the bottom ( or more > then options )
  6. Click 'Trust Centre', then 'Trust Centre Settings'
  7. Then look on the left for 'Trusted Locations' and click.... then click 'add new location'
  8. Insert the copied link... for me it was "https://d.docs.live.net/"... likely this is the same for you, but just incase it's downloading locally to somewhere else it's worth checking that's why I put in point 4.
  9. Then tick 'subfolders of this location are also trusted'... Thats important if you have lots of subfolders on one drive as the macros will be blocked in them unless you check this.
  10. That's it done

You should now be able to right click files in one drive ( with macros ) from excel and stuff will sync etc.

Hope this helps for some people

Thanks

Tommy

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-06-24T02:04:37+00:00

    I am having the same problem.

    the security block and selecting Unblock does not appear when I check the properties for the file.

    This is completely blocking my ability to do ANY of the project work for an upcoming deadline. VERY frustrating that Microsoft implements something so randomly, that completely stops functionality of trusted documents you have been working in for months.

    Laura

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-20T17:25:58+00:00

    No this has not solved my issue unfortunately.

    While adding the trusted location was possible if I used the server name instead of IP the file still returns the same security warning and blocks the macro from running.

    It is very frustrating that Microsoft has unilaterally decided they know better than their users and have implemented no way of bypassing this restriction.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-06-24T08:56:46+00:00

    Laura - I came across this suggestion, and entering the server details solved the issue for me:

    Control Panel: Internet Options > Security > Local Intranet > Sites > Advanced

    I went for IP address of the NAS but allegedly the NAS name should also work.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-06-20T15:32:21+00:00

    See https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/microsoft-has-blocked-macros-from-running-because/4bf4eb8d-5545-4e00-a6a7-a0801e264cc2?page=2&messageId=0cc8f769-d380-479b-9f73-960028867143

    Try this solution suggested on this thread:

    "Hi,

    I think I found a solution to my problem.

    The solution is to re-map the network drive to the fileserver name first and then adding that mapped directory to the trusted locations in excel.

    Mapped Location:

    \fileserver\networkdirectory and not \[192.xxx.xxx.xxx]\networkdirectory

    Hope it helps someone out there.

    Regards,

    Ryno"

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