Fix for Windows Security Warning When Dragging Files on a Specific Drive Letter

Fix for Windows Security Warning When Dragging Files on a Specific Drive Letter

I was getting this warning constantly in Windows 11:

“Your internet security settings suggest that one or more files may be harmful. Do you want to use it anyway?”

The strange part was that it only happened when I used drag-and-drop in File Explorer. Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V worked without any warning.

My setup: Google Drive for desktop, with one account mounted as G:. I also had other Google Drive accounts mounted under other drive letters.

What I tested:

1. Same Google Drive account mounted as G: produced the warning.
2. Same Google Drive account mounted as J: did not produce the warning.
3. A normal local test folder mounted as G: using subst also produced the same warning.

That proved the issue was not Google Drive, not the files, and not Mark-of-the-Web on individual files. The problem followed the drive letter G:.

The fix/workaround:

After the G: drive is mounted, restart Windows Explorer.

Open Command Prompt and run:

taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

The desktop and taskbar disappear briefly, then come back. After that, drag-and-drop on G: worked normally with no Windows Security warning.

You can also make a small batch file:

@echo off
taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
exit

Important: run it after the drive letter is already mounted. If you run it before the drive exists, the warning may come back when the drive mounts later.

Credit where credit is due: I use ChatGPT to problem-solve weird Windows issues, and it helped me isolate this by testing whether the warning followed the files, Google Drive, or the drive letter. The key diagnostic step was mounting a normal local folder as G: with subst. Since the warning still occurred, the drive letter itself was the culprit.

did you try this: