Setting up Ollama on Windows 11 this morning. Installer finished, but every ollama run threw:

open C:\Users\Me\.ollama\models\registry.json: CreateFile symlink \?\C:\Users\Me\.ollama\models\registry.json: Access is denied.

Fresh PowerShell session, Admin prompt. Windows Developer Mode was disabled.

mklink needs Developer Mode or SeCreateSymbolicLink privilege.

Solved it by:

  • opening Settings › For Developers
  • toggling Developer Mode on
  • restarting PowerShell
  • re‑running ollama run llama2

The model downloaded and started serving.

If you cannot enable Developer Mode, run secpol.msc and grant Create symbolic links to your user account.