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SYS-C0149 · Group Policy & Windows Security

AppLocker vs WDAC

Compare AppLocker and WDAC as allow lists for PCs you administer, and do not disable either one to test.

Updated 25 October 2026 · Comparison

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

AppLocker and WDAC both decide which programs may run. The generator drafts a rule from names you type. It does not push a policy and it does not connect to a PC.

An allow list that forgets the admin tools locks you out. Name the path you still need. Do not write a deny-all as the first draft. Do not disable the control that is already on in order to see the desktop. This is not a bypass guide.

One pilot PC you administer. A rule you cannot read aloud does not ship. 192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.

Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Name the pilot PC.
  2. Write the program you mean to allow.
  3. Draft one rule.
  4. Include the admin path you still need.
  5. Do not deploy during the reading.
  6. Do not disable a control that is already enforcing.

Mistakes that outlive the command

AppLocker vs WDAC goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for AppLocker vs WDAC: One allow. The admin path is named. Nothing was deployed. No control was disabled. The PC is yours. And this is not a bypass.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The program is written. The admin path is written. No deny-all is the first rule. Nothing was deployed. And no control was disabled. If one of those fails, stop.

# An allow list, not a bypass.
# Keep the admin path.
# Do not disable the control to test.
# Do not deploy during the reading.

Before you leave the host

AppLocker vs WDAC ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.

This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.

Tools for this guide

These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.

More in this cluster

The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.