Error: SetProcessMitigationPolicy not in dynamic link library Kernel32.dll

Hoping that the experts here can help me more than Microsoft or my software reseller with this installation issue.

 

All was working well with my Office Professional 2016 (ed.) office suite and W7 machine, until I noticed a little glitch with Onenote.  

 

It was suggested I run the MS repair utility to fix this, but issues have grown!

 

It turns out that the utility removes and uninstalls the whole office suite as part of the clean-up.  But in my case it hasn't!

 

Whether I try manually to reinstall or use the online tool both routines come up with the same error message:

 

SetProcessMitigationPolicy could not be located in the dynamic link library Kernel32.dll

 

So I googled how to best to fix this. One suggestion was run scan now to find and replace the missing / corrupted file.  So I did sfc /scannow.  But confusingly that reached 100% and concluded that "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity checks", put simply nothing is missing!

 

So what now to fix and how? ....So that I can reinstall the whole office suite which I'm missing, all for a small glitch which wasn't causing much harm in one app!!

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Edited by Mr_Frustrated, 30 September 2024 - 01:36 PM.

You are aware that Windows 7 and Office Professional 2017 (do you not mean 2016?) are no longer supported.

My suggestion would be to upgrade to Windows 11 and choose for Office 365.

...My suggestion would be to upgrade to Windows 11
..

There is no direct, upgrade path from 7 to 11. There never was.
Moreover, the hardware of a PC running 7 may not support 11.
Windows 10 might work, but the upgrade now would entail buying a legal Win10 license & a clean install.
Linux would be a better option, if the Topic Starter wants to explore that strategy.

Many users don't want MS365. A free Office suite such as Libre Office would probably be a better alternative to Office 2017.

Having said all that, neither of these observations/opinions helps @Mr_Frustrated with the problem at hand.

And having said all THAT, I'm not sure how to fix that specific problem.
We'll need to wait for someone still using 7 to weigh in.

Thanks, I've corrected my typo!  Until I followed the "experts" online suggestion, my machine worked without issue, and my app's haven't needed reinstalling - so to be blunt why would I invest in a whole new set up.  Isn't this is supposed to be the W7 help forum!

@Mr_Frustrated:

What "MS Repair utility" did you run?

EDIT: We are not in front of your computer. It would help if you could please tell us what other "expert" online suggestions you tried?

Can you please post links to those sites you visited?

Thank you

Edited by MoxieMomma, 30 September 2024 - 01:41 PM.

@MM: I know that upgrading from 7 to 11 is not possible, but using 7 is just getting yourself free malware.

...My suggestion would be to upgrade to Windows 11
..

There is no direct, upgrade path from 7 to 11. There never was.
Moreover, the hardware of a PC running 7 may not support 11.
Windows 10 might work, but the upgrade now would entail buying a legal Win10 license & a clean install.
Linux would be a better option, if the Topic Starter wants to explore that strategy.

Many users don't want MS365. A free Office suite such as Libre Office would probably be a better alternative to Office 2017.

Having said all that, neither of these observations/opinions helps @Mr_Frustrated with the problem at hand.

And having said all THAT, I'm not sure how to fix that specific problem.
We'll need to wait for someone still using 7 to weigh in.

Meg didn't imply that there was an upgrade path. They merely stated to upgrade to windows 11.

@Mr_Frustrated:

We would be remiss if we did not point out that Windows 7 for MANY YEARS has been obsolete, unpatched, insecure and highly risky for anything other than offline use under carefully controlled circumstances by a user who understands the risks & has robust backup/recovery plans in place.
Using a Win7 computer in 2024 for ANYTHING else, especially online activity, is a recipe for catastrophic data loss, financial loss, identity theft and the like. And all of your friends, family and other folks you interact with digitally are also at risk.

Having said that, your old Win7 computer hardware will not be upgradable to Win11. It may or may not be upgradable to Win10 (we will need to get some system specs to know for sure). And Win10 itself reaches end of support in October 2025. So, if it’s possible, it would buy time, but it would not be future-proof.

Other options would be switching THIS computer to Linux, OR purchasing a modern computer with modern hardware running Win10 or (better) Win11.

So, YES, you do need to upgrade to newer hardware and Windows 11 sooner, rather than later, especially if you conduct ANY online computer activity.

But, yes, this is the Win7 forum. And, yes, one ought to expect some help with your Win7 issues, beyond telling you to “upgrade to Windows 11” without explaining why & how.

Perhaps someone here at BC can assist with your specific problem. Please be patient. It may or may not be fixable. If it does not pan out, then, YES, biting the bullet and moving on to a modern computer with Win11 will be the best course of action.


Cheers

@MoxieMomma, I had MS Onenote installed and functioning as part of Office 2016 Professional Plus suite.  When the local and server versions of this showed a "disconnected" message,  I asked the MS Community for help on how to fix and they (the Community moderator) suggested running the repair utlity for those programmes via the Control Panel and installed app's menu.  Firstly I tried to run this on the single app, but in the end had to apply it to the whole Officesuite as the app was part of an installed bundle. 

 

I saw that the repair comprises an uninstall of all the apps and then reinstalls them as the fundamental part of the repair.  Except I got this error message (above) when it started the reinstall. After that it quit and I found I had no Office products at all Outlook, Word, Excel, Onenote, Powerpoint any longer.  Searching the MS Community I found others with the same issue / error mesage, doing similar upgrades - none I could see had documented a full solution (you can search for similar threads).

 

One of the posts there did list possible fixes in the solution (via another MS admin), including ensuring that i) Windows was fully patched and had a minimum SP level.  ii) Run scannow . exe as above to find and fix the missing dll file. 

 

Frustratingly - surprise, surprise - I checked, I have all the patches already via Windows update and the necessary SP level.  When I ran the scannow utility it found no errors / files to fix.  So nothing to change here / nothing apparently at fault!  

 

However I have also contacted my software reseller who cannot explain why I cannot reinstall the software from my MS account with confirmed valid product keys listed there which they sold / provided me.

 

Hence all the suggestions so far have proved worthless and a small glitch which was making certain features in one office app Onenote unavailable has become a loss of the whole Office suite with no ability to reinstall until I get round this error message.

 

As commented to others - I don't need people wasting their time and mine, saying move to another Windows release. I have no day-to-day issues with recent set up - I cannot remember the last application issue unresolved on my machine.  I have no plans to migrate overnight!  I posted here, thinking the error message might be recognisable for those with more knowledge of W7.  Again, I see others in the MS community with similar issues, but no resolution e.g. via Moderators (supposed experts) there.   Thanks. 

Edited by Mr_Frustrated, 30 September 2024 - 06:21 PM.

We were likely posting at the same time.

This *sounds* like a problem with OneNote 2016, rather than Windows itself?

But, it may or may not be fixable.
This situation will become ever more challenging as time wears on, especially if you did not have in place robust system imaging, backup & recovery procedures (all of which are "must have" when running an obsolete OS).

If the MS folks couldn't fix it, if repairing your Office 2016 did not fix it, and if the other online fixes you tried didn't fix it, you may be out of luck.

Under the circumstances, to manage expectations, it may be time to cut your losses & move on.
(To clarify, I'm no "cold dead fingers" Win7 holdover, either. And, to be honest, it's a bit unnerving (terrifying) to think that you're going online with this highly vulnerable obsolete system, with no viable means to recover from a malware or identity theft incident. It is a recipe for disaster.)

I hope you find a workable, safe solution.

Over and out...

Edited to fix formatting

Edited by MoxieMomma, 30 September 2024 - 06:33 PM.

If OneNote is the actual problem....

BTW re: Office 2016 & OneNote 2016:

Like Windows 7, these applications are obsolete & unsupported.

Support for OneNote for *Windows 10* ends in October 2025.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-is-happening-to-onenote-for-windows-10-2b453bfe-66bc-4ab2-9118-01e7eb54d2d6#:~:text=We%20recently%20announced%20the%20availability,of%2Dsupport%20in%20Oct%202025.

There are free & paid alternatives to MS Office, such as LibreOffice.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

MS currently supports paid, modern versions, such as:

Office 2021 (OneNote is available, I think)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/get-started-with-office-2021

MS365 (OneNote included or available)
https://www.office.com/

Office LTSC 2024 (includes OneNote):
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-blog/office-ltsc-2024-is-now-available/ba-p/4244953

And there are free & paid alternatives to MS OneNote, such as Google Workspace, Evernote, Bear, etc.

https://workspace.google.com/

https://evernote.com/

https://bear.app/

That error message doesn't mean the DLL file is missing, it means a particular function expected to be in an existing DLL is missing. This kind of error commonly pops up when trying to install software not designed for older versions of Windows. That SetProcessMitigationPolicy function is very likely present in the KERNEL32.DLL file in Windows 8 and newer but not in the file in Windows 7. I think what's going on is you're trying to re-install with an updated Office 2016 setup package which isn't designed to work on Windows 7; and unless you can get your hands on an earlier build of Office 2016, you won't be getting it back.

That makes sense.

Thanks, @BB.

@BeigeBochs - thanks for the update.  That's informative, if not exactly the response I wanted to hear.  I wondered if the text of the message was misleading when the recommended utility didn't find anything.

Frankly, it's time to move on from Office 2016 & Windows 7.
There are modern, more secure options for both of these.

The security risk of trying to get hold of an older build of an obsolete program far outweighs the benefit. You could easily end up with malware on an unpatched, insecure system.

Technology changes, be it toasters, automobiles or computers.
The threat environment in 2024 differs dramatically from 2014 & the past.

But it's certainly your choice.

Respectfully submitted
And EOD for me

Edited by MoxieMomma, 01 October 2024 - 05:37 AM.