What is Windows Controlled Folder Access
We think Microsoft explains it best here, but the TL;DR is that Windows Controlled Folder Access (herein known as "CFA") is a Windows Defenders feature that prevents specific applications from reading/writing to specific folders on your hard-drive(s).
Why does CFA impact Insights Capture
Windows CFA (by default) prevents applications like Insights Capture & Overwolf from writing to "protected" folders, such as:
C:\Users\<username>\Videos C:\Users\<username>\Documents
Unfortunately Insights Capture (by default) stores its video & backup data in C:\Users\<username>\Videos\, which is one of the "protected" folders, so if CFA is enabled then Insights Capture will be unable to save videos or backup information ;-;
How can I use CFA with Insights Capture?
To use properly CFA with Overwolf/Insights Capture, you'll either to whitelist the Overwolf and Insights Capture
applications / sub-applications. Unfortunately, just setting Insights Capture's Video Folder to a non-CFA-protected folder may result with the Overwolf platform ;-;
To whitelist Insights Capture (and Overwolf) in CFA, hit the Windows key and type in "Controlled Folder Access"- The first result should be what you're looking for, the windows settings page for CFA.
Once on this windows settings page, you should see a screen as follows
Click the "Allow an app through..." button.
Now click the "Add an allowed app..." button.
If you just recently restarted Insights Capture and went through the onboarding section, you can click the "Recently blocked apps" option. If you pick this option, you should see the "Overwolf", "Insights Capture" and "ow-obs.exe" programs, like in my third screen shot. Click on the white
plus icon next to each entry to whitelist them.
If you haven't recently restarted Insights Capture, click the "Browse all apps..." button.
From here, you'll need to whitelist the following programs:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Overwolf\Overwolf.exe%localappdata%\Overwolf\ProcessCache\0.233.1.2\okmohcjfmchpapljmoineeecekojmbbheniohgnp\InsightsCapture.exe%localappdata%\Overwolf\Extensions\ncfplpkmiejjaklknfnkgcpapnhkggmlcppckhcb\233.0.1\obs\bin\64bit\ow-obs.exe
Note: You can copy & paste each of the programs above into the "File name:" entry box as shown in screenshot four. This is a much faster way of doing it, opposed to navigating to each of the folders & hand selecting the file; however this will only work if your programs are stored in the "default" location(s)
Once done, restart Insights Capture.
What if I don't want to use CFA?
You can disable Window's Controlled Folder Access by:
- Opening the Windows Controlled Folder Access settings page (this can quickly be done by hitting your windows key, and typing in "Controlled Folder Access")
- On the page that opens, click the switch that's "On" to "Off"
