Disable Windows 10 Program Compatibility assistant

Some programs won't install on windows 10 due to something called the Compatibility assistant, here's how to bypass it :


The blocking mechanism is a so-called hard block and is applied by the Program Compatibility Assistant.

The following workaround fixed it for me:

1.     Install the Windows 10 Assessment and Deployment Kit (aka Windows ADK for Windows 10) from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/hardware/dn913721.aspx#adkwin10
2. From the start menu, run the Compatibility Administrator, either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version depending on your application
3. In the left-hand pane under System Database (32/64-bit) -> Applications, look for the corresponding application (if you can't find a good match, you can look it up in the Event Viewer, see below)
4. In the large pane on the right-hand side there should be an entry AppHelp - HARDBLOCK
5. Right-click the exe-file with the hard block and select Disable entry

Now you should be good to go. In my case I additionally had to set the program to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode.

1.     Open the Event Viewer eventvwr.msc
2. In the left-hand pane, navigate to Application and Services Logs-> Microsoft -> Windows -> Application Experience -> Program Telemetry
3. In the large middle pane, double click on the event with a timestamp that matches the blocked message. In the window that opens, there should be passage of text like

    Compatibility fix applied to C:\DRIVERS\VISTA\PWRMGRV\Setup.exe.

    Fix information: Lenovo Power Manager, {c2c0a0a8-ec3a-4f72-b657-5c39de76c771}, 0x10161.

    The boldfaced part is what the application is called in the Compatibility Administrator