Hello. I'd like to report a problem that I think could cause significant problems if it happens while sailing offshore with limited connectivity. I'd appreciate any help or advice for preventing this problem in the future.

On December 4, 2025, I installed ExpeditionSetup_ARM_12_5_5.exe on a new-out-of-the-box Microsoft Surface Pro running Windows 11. Expedition ran smoothly until a few days ago.

Starting on January 28, 2026, Exp wouldn't start with this error:
C:\Program Files\Expedition\ExpeditionARM\aec.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support. Error status 0xc0e90002.

Another error window that started popping up that day contained this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/smart-app-control-has-blocked-part-of-this-app-0729fff1-48bf-4b25-aa97-632fe55ccca2

The problem continued through January 30. On January 31, I was preparing to install the newest version of Exp for ARM when my old version started running normally again, without me changing anything at all. It's still running well now.

I'm relieved but I think that Windows disabling Exp like it did could cause serious problems for sailors. There was no warning. Windows suddenly decided that a software library used by Exp, a library that Windows had allowed to run for months, was no longer allowed. It could be difficult to impossible for someone sailing with limited network connectivity to download a new version of Exp or any Microsoft software updates needed to fix the problem.

Any ideas on how to prevent this problem from happening in the future? Thanks very much.

Ramon