Had a threat alert this morning (3/3/26) with the option of moving “homeassistant.exe” into quarantine… Anyone else had similar alerts?
Not sure where that file is located in a normal install. Or if it even really exists in a normal install.
Do you have a path to the file?
Hi, welcome to the forum!
An .exe files implies Windows while Homeassistant is Linux only.
Where did you get that file/installation from?
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There is no such file.
I use everything. A free tool for instant searches for files on your PC. I use it many times a day and strongly recommend using it on your PC. (I really wish there were a similar tool for Linux).
Install Everything and use it to search for “homeassistant.exe”. If it finds a file by that name then I would really like to know where on your disk was it found.
Whatever you do don’t open it.
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Like locate?
Cool. Thanks
Thanks for the advice!
So, what was the issue really?
Not too sure, but I uninstalled HA from my Windows PC and reinstalled it. The issue didn’t show again… Not a very satisfactory answer, I know…
Very confused now. There is no installation on Windows itself.
Just a way to use a hypervisor on windows to then install HA on that.
If @SteveBu found a Windows installation, then we should know. It could be a phishing program to discredit Home Assistant.
(Also, Windows is a poor choice of a host computer).
Apologies for newby ignorance and imprecise terminology!
HA is installed on my HA-Green.
I access it via iPhone, iPad and Windows user-interfaces. I was using the Windows UI when the original message appeared.
Like I already said, and has been repeated: there is no such file and as Stephen says, it’s good to know more about this.
What method did you use to install Home Assistant?
I used the Microsoft Store, Home Assistant Local.
This. Be very careful - because again there is no “Windows UI” to install. From Windows, everyone can just access HA via a(ny) web browser, and that’s the UI.
So if there is a Windows UI, in Microsoft Store, then (as you probably can tell from the reactions) that thing is not official / not from Home Assistant devs / not approved.
Do you have a screenshot of which one exactly? What kind of permissions this app would need?
Somebody else did it, and there is no guarantee what else would be inside the app. I would not ignore the thread alert and assume removing and reinstalling would solve the problem / the risk.
Maybe irreverent but I would just go ahead and ask: what kind of app(s) you are using on your iPhone / iPad?
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Thanks for the advice and warning, this is much clearer to me now!
Concurring with your comments and others, I have not found any executable with that name on my Windows computer.
I used the HA install from the Apple Store, but will now treat that with equal caution.
