How to remove incompatible driver for Core Isolation > Memory Integrity

Hi Everyone,

I'm attempting to harden up my Win11 x64 Ver 21H2 thinkpad T470p laptop.

Under Windows Security > Device Security > Core Isolation, when I scan for incompatible drivers, the results show Shadow Defender diskpt.sys. I tried uninstalling SD, but then the page was blank, but still 'incompatible'. So I reinstalled it.

I dont use SD anymore anyhow, how do I remove the driver?

Many thanks, Chigwells

Chigwells said:

Hi Everyone,

I'm attempting to harden up my Win11 x64 Ver 21H2 thinkpad T470p laptop.

Under Windows Security > Device Security > Core Isolation, when I scan for incompatible drivers, the results show Shadow Defender diskpt.sys. I tried uninstalling SD, but then the page was blank, but still 'incompatible'. So I reinstalled it.

I dont use SD anymore anyhow, how do I remove the driver?

Many thanks, Chigwells

View attachment 61751

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Try REVO Uninstaller (free), and make sure you "Scan for leftovers" and delete them also.
REVO will uninstall just about anything.
If REVO can't find Shadow Defender... re-install Shadow Defender, then uninstall it with REVO.

If Revo doesn't uninstall the driver you can force remove it using Driver Store Explorer. Be very careful using it.

I would also suggest using Autoruns from Sysinternals (available from the MS Store as well), it is part of the Sysinternals suite and is free.
The app allows you to see all drivers/ services/ tasks running and loaded on your system, you can disable them with a simple check box, see where they are loaded from, delete the task/ registry entry referencing them and much more. Best run as admin.

It might be an idea to temporarily disable the driver and reboot to check if it solves the issue before removing it completely.

The app is very powerful, as are DriverStoreExplorer and Revo, I suggest you create a complete system backup/ image and make sure you have an up to date backup of your personal data before making any changes.

Hi guys, apologies I got lost in the world and have been away from here for a while.

@Ghot, I use the Geek uninstaller, I'll try Revo.

@glasskuter @DigitalGoat , I'll try your suggestions, many thanks!

Dism++ makes it incredibly easy to uninstall drivers (just be careful to uninstall the correct ones! as glaskuter said)


If other methods fail:
diskpt.sys is a non standard driver, you could try simply renaming it/moving it out of the drivers folder but you will need to stop the service first if it has one running, you could probably even reboot in safe mode and just drag it out of the folder with the mouse. (registry entries in the system key will need to be removed as well but even if left in place you would never notice them)

It is likely located at: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\diskpt.sys

Chigwells said:

I use the Geek uninstaller, I'll try Revo.

Click to expand...

They are pretty much the same. I've been using REVO for so long, I can't even think about another uninstaller.

Hi all, an update but I'm not having any luck at all here

Following @Ghot 's advice, I reinistalled Shadow Defender, but when I uninstalled it with Revo, removing all 'leftovers', the problem still remained.

I still get this blank Incompatible Drivers screen, i.e. itsays there are incompatible drivers, but none are listed



I then (after reinstalling SD so diskpt.sys was back in the Drivers folder) followed @BobOmb 's advice and removed diskpt.sys out of the System32>Drivers folder, but my system completely crashed and it took me an age to get Hiren's Boot CD running so I could put it back, then the system booted normally again (I just realised I forgot to stop the service first, duh!)

BobOmb said:

diskpt.sys is a non standard driver, you could try simply renaming it/moving it out of the drivers folder

Click to expand...

Anyhow, I'm just considering upgrading from 21H2 to Win11 22H2, in the hopes this might fix it?

I recommend everyone update to 22h2 but I do not think doing so will get rid of the incompatible driver.

I recently updated my Dell W10 laptop to W11 and shortly after noticed the warning about core isolation/memory integrity. When I first tried to turn on memory integrity it was no-go with an old FTDI driver for dongles listed (ftdibus.sys) I tried (unsuccessfully) uninstalling it but required system access. I went to the control panel and uninstalled a couple of old programs I had used to program Vertex two-way radios. That took care of the copy in the Windows driver store, but it didn't remove the copy in the Windows.old folder. I tried a few ways to remove that one (unsuccessfully) but finally gave up and deleted the whole Windows.old folder. I ran another scan to make sure there wasn't another copy hiding. I tried turning on the memory integrity but still failed. I checked the incompatibility list and it's empty, but still no-go.