Opening files in TIBCO Spotfire installed client fails with error 'This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your system administrator'

Opening files in TIBCO Spotfire installed client fails with error 'This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your system administrator'

When opening an analysis file in the TIBCO Spotfire installed client that is access a flat file, the opening of the file may fail with the following error:

Error message: Could not open data source.

TargetInvocationException at Spotfire.Dxp.Framework:
Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. (HRESULT: 80131604)

Stack Trace:
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Framework.ApplicationModel.ProgressService.ExecuteWithProgressCancelable(String title, String description, ProgressOperation operation, Boolean showCancelButton)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Forms.Application.FormsApplicationThread.ExecutePromptingOperation(String title, String description, PromptingApplicationInvocation promptingApplicationInvocation)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Application.RichAnalysisApplication.Open(String filePath, DocumentOpenSettings documentOpenSettings)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Main.Program.<>c__DisplayClass4_0.<OpenFile>b__0(LoadCallbackParameters parameters)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Forms.Framework.Utilities.LoadFileHelper.LoadFile(LoadCallback callback, LoadCallbackParameters parameters, Form owningForm)

ImportException at Spotfire.Dxp.Data:
Failed to open data source. (HRESULT: 80131500)

Stack Trace:
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataSource.ConnectWithoutPrompting(IServiceProvider serviceProvider, DataSourcePromptMode promptMode, Boolean updateInternalState, DataLoadSettings loadSettings)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataSource.Connect(IServiceProvider serviceProvider, DataSourcePromptMode promptMode, Boolean updateInternalState, DataLoadSettings loadSettings)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataSource.Connect(IServiceProvider serviceProvider, DataSourcePromptMode promptMode)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Application.AnalysisApplication.<OpenDocumentFile>d__98.MoveNext()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Forms.Application.FormsApplicationThread.<>c__DisplayClass16_0.<ExecutePromptingOperation>b__0()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Forms.Application.FormsProgressService.ProgressThread.DoOperationLoop()

Win32Exception at System:
This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your system administrator (HRESULT: 80004005)

Stack Trace:
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Framework.ApplicationModel.SubprocessService.TestSubprocess()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Framework.ApplicationModel.SubprocessService.Setup()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataSource.ConnectWithoutPrompting(IServiceProvider serviceProvider, DataSourcePromptMode promptMode, Boolean updateInternalState, DataLoadSettings loadSettings)

  When the TIBCO Spotfire installed client is accessing an external data source like a file (.csv, .xlsx, etc), a temporary sub-process will be spawned so that the data access is not handled my the main application process (this has a few benefits including increased stability). If that spawned process is blocked when Spotfire is trying to access it, the above error will be seen.

The sub-processes launched by Spotfire for data access are named like "Spotfire.XXXX.exe" and are created in the temp folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\TIBCO\Spotfire\) on the Spotfire installed client machine. To resolve this issue, those processes must be allowed to execute from that location by the group policy. To view the sub-processes and their paths, open Task Manager to see the Spotfire related processes that are triggered when you open the analysis for the first time.