Forum Discussion
Registry setting to exclude specific processes from UI Automation
Hi everyone,
I'm dealing with a system-wide UIA blocking issue caused by one problematic application that interferes with my other applications that rely on UI Automation functionality.
One application in my system hangs and frequently blocks UIA, which prevents my other automation tools from working properly. I need a way to exclude this specific process from UIA while keeping UIA enabled for everything else.
What I'm Looking For:
A registry setting to disable UIA for specific processes, similar to how Image File Execution Options works. Something like:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ProblematicApp.exe
"DisableUIAutomation"=dword:00000001
Does such a feature already exist that I might have missed in the documentation?
Are there any alternative approaches to prevent specific processes from participating in UIA?
Would this be something Microsoft might consider implementing?
This would solve the issue by allowing me to continue using UIA for legitimate automation while preventing one bad actor from blocking the entire system.
Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated!
1 Reply
hi claudiu At present there isn’t a supported registry setting to disable UI Automation (UIA) for a specific process. Windows doesn’t provide a per-process exclusion mechanism similar to Image File Execution Options for UIA — the framework is enabled or disabled system-wide.
A few alternatives you might consider:
Whitelist your automation scope: Limit UIA queries in your own tools to specific processes/windows instead of enumerating everything.
Process isolation: Run the problematic app in a restricted environment (low integrity or AppContainer) to reduce its ability to interfere with system-wide UIA.
Provider-level blocking: If the application uses custom UIA providers, you may be able to block or control their DLL load with AppLocker or WDAC.
Unfortunately, there’s no built-in registry “DisableUIAutomation” flag today. If this is a blocker, I’d strongly recommend submitting feedback via Feedback Hub (Win+F) or the Developer Community so the engineering team can consider adding per-process exclusion in the future.
