Tip 540: Operation Cancelled Due to Restrictions

We’re seeing more than the usual number of reports of “This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer" errors when clicking hyperlinks in Outlook.

When you attempt to open a web page from a link in an email message and get this error: "Operation was cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer", it’s not an Outlook error. It’s a problem with Internet Explorer.

Unless this is a work computer and your administrator has set restrictions, it’s a corrupt registry key used by Internet Explorer. The most common cause is installing Firefox or Chrome and uninstalling it without resetting IE to be the default browser first.

You can fix it by resetting IE’s Internet settings in IE’s Tools, Internet Options (or Control panel, Internet Options). Go to the Advanced tab and click Reset.

If IE is not your default browser, reset its web settings than make your preferred browser default after you verify the error was fixed.

See This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions for other options if resetting the web settings don’t work.

Published August 18, 2008. Last reviewed on August 15, 2012.

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