Trusted Installer locks files – what now?

by Tobias

If the Trusted Installer locks files, you can release them by temporarily disabling the service. This can be done via the system configuration in Windows.

Unlock files locked by Trusted Installer

The Trusted Installer is part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Among other things, it is responsible for installing Windows updates and does not run permanently. Nevertheless, it is possible that various folders and files are locked by this process during runtime. If this is the case, you should first wait until the Windows update check is complete. If this takes too long, you can also stop the process manually:

  • To do this, open the “Run” dialogue with the key combination [Windows] + [R].
  • Enter “msconfig” in the input field and confirm with “OK”.
  • Open the “Services” tab and search for the service “Windows Modules Installer”.
  • Uncheck the box to the left of the entry and confirm with “Apply” and “OK”.
  • A dialogue box appears asking you to restart the PC in order to make the changes effective. Click on “Restart” here.
  • After restarting, you should have access to the locked files again.

Important: Do not disable Trusted Installer for a long time

As mentioned above, the Trusted Installer primarily takes care of installing, changing and removing Windows updates and optional components.

  • For this reason, the service should no longer be deactivated. This can cause errors when installing or uninstalling Windows updates.
  • Furthermore, the system check is switched off, which limits the security of the system.
  • Therefore, reactivate the service after processing the locked files. To do this, proceed in the same way as when deactivating the service.

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