Unblocker Script

[seadoggie01]

Recently I stumbled across this again and got frustrated, so I wrote a script to fix it (because that's what heroes do?). Every time I download a file from the internet or my email, the file gets marked as being from the internet. When I open the properties, there's a fancy checkbox to "Unblock" the file. I've experienced issues with this, especially when trying to download a Visual Studio project and import it for school. I learned a ton about FileStreams because I dove into PowerShell's UnblockFile source code. I'm still not very clear on what or why FileStreams, but I did manage to find out that unblocking a file is as simple as making a WinAPI FileDelete call with ":Zone.Information" appended to the file path.

Func _File_Unblock($sFilePath)

    Local $hFile = FileOpen($sFilePath & ":Zone.Identifier", 2)
    If $hFile = -1 Then Return SetError(1, 0, False)
    FileWrite($hFile, "")
    FileClose($hFile)
    Return True

EndFunc

I think the script is pretty self-explanatory, but I thought I'd share in case anyone else runs into this issue

Edit: So I found a bit more about this, mostly because a comment somewhere mentioned that this Zone.Identifier was actually an Ini file. This website showed how to open and edit the file, so I found that the format of the IniFile is something like this: (I used a copy of my UDF that I downloaded)

[ZoneTransfer]
ZoneId=3
ReferrerUrl=https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/202026-acroau3-udf/
HostUrl=https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=63984

It appears that File Explorer deletes the entire stream when you click "Unblock". Setting the ZoneId to 0, 1, or 2 doesn't appear to make any changes and "Unblock" is still visible. I also found FileOpen allows Reading/Writing to FileStreams, so _WinAPI_FileDelete isn't needed.

Edited May 21, 2020 by seadoggie01

[argumentum]

Disable downloaded files from being blocked in Windows 10
Open Group Policy Editor by typing gpedit.msc into the Start Menu.
Go to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Attachment Manager.
Double click the policy setting "Do not preserve zone information in file attachments". Enable it and click OK.

[seadoggie01]

I was working on this on a computer where I don't have admin permission sadly, but that's very helpful for at home! Thank you!  

[MattHiggs]

On 5/21/2020 at 8:42 AM, seadoggie01 said:

Recently I stumbled across this again and got frustrated, so I wrote a script to fix it (because that's what heroes do?). Every time I download a file from the internet or my email, the file gets marked as being from the internet. When I open the properties, there's a fancy checkbox to "Unblock" the file. I've experienced issues with this, especially when trying to download a Visual Studio project and import it for school. I learned a ton about FileStreams because I dove into PowerShell's UnblockFile source code. I'm still not very clear on what or why FileStreams, but I did manage to find out that unblocking a file is as simple as making a WinAPI FileDelete call with ":Zone.Information" appended to the file path.

Func _File_Unblock($sFilePath)

    Local $hFile = FileOpen($sFilePath & ":Zone.Identifier", 2)
    If $hFile = -1 Then Return SetError(1, 0, False)
    FileWrite($hFile, "")
    FileClose($hFile)
    Return True

EndFunc

I think the script is pretty self-explanatory, but I thought I'd share in case anyone else runs into this issue

Edit: So I found a bit more about this, mostly because a comment somewhere mentioned that this Zone.Identifier was actually an Ini file. This website showed how to open and edit the file, so I found that the format of the IniFile is something like this: (I used a copy of my UDF that I downloaded)

[ZoneTransfer]
ZoneId=3
ReferrerUrl=https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/202026-acroau3-udf/
HostUrl=https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=63984

It appears that File Explorer deletes the entire stream when you click "Unblock". Setting the ZoneId to 0, 1, or 2 doesn't appear to make any changes and "Unblock" is still visible. I also found FileOpen allows Reading/Writing to FileStreams, so _WinAPI_FileDelete isn't needed.

Looks very similar to a script I wrote a long time ago.  But good work!