DMC Does Not Open

Overview

This article serves to cover the common reasons we see that the DMC Application itself is unable to run properly on your machine.

Simple Troubleshooting

We recommend trying the following to immediately verify whether this is an environmental issue or not

  1. Review the requirements at Server Requirements (Jump Box)
  2. Ensure you're running DMC as Administrator
  3. Ensure that the DMC application is "Unblocked" at the bottom of Right Click > Properties
  4. Clear the %temp% folder for the user running DMC
  5. Locate or create a virtual machine that is not domain-joined, attempt to run DMC on that machine
  6. Repeat for anti-virus and other security software

Windows Blocked the File

When DMC is downloaded from the internet, Windows marks it with a Zone Identifier that can prevent it from running. To unblock it:

  1. Right-click the downloaded DMC.exe file.
  2. Select Properties from the context menu.
  3. Under the General tab, look for a Security section at the bottom.
  4. If you see an Unblock checkbox or button, tick or click it.
  5. Click Apply, then OK.

Antivirus Exclusions

Antivirus software may flag or quarantine DMC executables. Add the following to your antivirus exclusion list:

  • DMC.exe: main application
  • dmc-cli.exe: command-line interface
  • 7za.exe: compression utility bundled with DMC
  • SqlAssessment.exe: SQL Server assessment component

Two DLLs load alongside 7za.exe and are also unsigned: 7za.dll and 7zxa.dll. They are not standalone executables, but some antivirus tools may still flag them - add them to your exclusion list if you see related detections.

Add each executable individually rather than excluding the whole installation directory. Refer to your antivirus vendor's documentation for the specific steps to add individual file exclusions.

AppLocker/Group Policy

The most common reason we see DMC is unable to run is that it is blocked by Microsoft AppLocker, which is configured in many enterprise environments to block unknown software.

You can confirm this is what is affecting you by doing the following:

  1. Login to the system you're running DMC from
  2. Attempt to launch DMC as administrator
  3. Open Event Viewer
  4. Navigate to Apps and Services > Microsoft > Windows > AppLocker
  5. Open each of the included logs and check for any recent events
  6. Proceed with whitelisting if events are found

Whitelisting DMC through AppLocker

Whitelist via Path

DMC will execute from 2 locations:

  • The location where DMC is first downloaded, usually %userprofile%\Downloads
  • The user's %temp% folder where it self extracts

Ideally these locations are temporarily whitelisted on the system that is running DMC.

Whitelist via Certificate

While our DMC application is signed, some components within are not. Specifically this includes the SQL Scan component made by the Microsoft Corporation, and the 7-Zip package manager.

The DMC self-extractor as well as the DMC executables contained within are signed by Altra Technologies Pty Ltd using the certificate thumbprint below

bc3766b9056d7125bb20a27d47a54913c0c54628
Last Updated: February 2026
© 2025 Altra Technologies
ESC