Memory Integrity off - no incompatible drivers found

Minor update. I tried stopping all the SupportAssist related services, and setting their Startup Type to Manual, but that didn't seem to make a difference - Memory Integrity is still off, with no incompatible drivers shown. I've not (yet) uninstalled SupportAssist, and will update this post after I've done so.

In bios see if you have something named “Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT "

Thanks glasskuter. I have:

Virtualization (Enabled).

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Other than that, the closest I get is:

AmdVtEnable (no value set). This field specifies whether the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) utilizes the additional hardware capabilities provided by the AMD-V Technology.

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AmdViEnable (no value set). This field specifies whether the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) utilizes the additional hardware capabilities provided by the AMD-Vi Technology.

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VtForDirectIo (Enabled). Determines whether a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) can utilize the additional hardware capabilities provided by Intel Virtualization Technology for Direct IO.

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TrustExecution (Disabled). Determines whether a Measured Virtual Machine Monitor (MVMM) can utilize the additional hardware capabilities provided by the Intel Trusted Execution Technology. NOTE: TPM has to be enabled and activated. Also, Virtualization Technology and VT for Direct I/O must be enabled to use this feature. FYI, TpmSecurity is Enabled.

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I'm not running any VMs and don't know which of these four are even relevant.

In all honesty I do not either as I do not run VMs. I came across that idea from the very last post in this thread. Read through the thread and see if it gives you any ideas XPS 8950, Virtualization not shown in BIOS

So incredibly nice of you to research this, @glasskuter - thank you! I read through that post before adding my own to the XPS Desktop forum on 4/18, but didn't see it as applicable (my BIOS does show Virtualization, I'm not running VMWare, I'm using Win Pro, etc). Also, if Core Isolation is disabled, as suggested in that last post, I'm not sure Windows Security will even open the page with Memory Integrity, so that's a non-starter.

My next step will be to uninstall SupportAssist, but I suspect SA isn't the problem, since I have it running on another device with Memory Integrity enabled.
After that, I'm back to your original suggestion of culling "old" drivers using DriverStoreExplorer (AutoRuns doesn't show any issues). If Windows Security identified problem drivers, I'd have more hope in this last approach, but as it stands, I'm becoming resigned to living without Memory Integrity (and associated Kernal-mode Stack Protection) on the XPS - at least until the next Reset or major release. Per comments from neves, it may be a blessing in disguise.

safron said:

So incredibly nice of you to research this, @glasskuter - thank you! I read through that post before adding my own to the XPS Desktop forum on 4/18, but didn't see it as applicable (my BIOS does show Virtualization, I'm not running VMWare, I'm using Win Pro, etc). Also, if Core Isolation is disabled, as suggested in that last post, I'm not sure Windows Security will even open the page with Memory Integrity, so that's a non-starter.

My next step will be to uninstall SupportAssist, but I suspect SA isn't the problem, since I have it running on another device with Memory Integrity enabled.
After that, I'm back to your original suggestion of culling "old" drivers using DriverStoreExplorer (AutoRuns doesn't show any issues). If Windows Security identified problem drivers, I'd have more hope in this last approach, but as it stands, I'm becoming resigned to living without Memory Integrity (and associated Kernal-mode Stack Protection) on the XPS - at least until the next Reset or major release. Per comments from neves, it may be a blessing in disguise.

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bro I just registered on this forum and you are the only person who has my exact problem. whenever i tried to turn "Core isolation on" it used to show "xhunter1" as an incompatible driver. after deleting it, i still cannot turn the feature on, but now my problem is that it shows no incompatible driver. I've been stuck for 2 months now, after many research and surfing i still cannot find any solution.
did you find any? i would appreciate an update, because I'm far away from being a Tech person and would never figure it out on my own. I'm still trying to figure out the difference between CPU and Hard Disk lol

If it helps at all... I can turn both on, but don't.
I seriously doubt it's un-hackable, so what's the point.

I have no proof what so ever, but I have the feeling it's just more "sounds good marketing".

Just my opinion.

Ghot said:

If it helps at all... I can turn both on, but don't.
I seriously doubt it's un-hackable, so what's the point.

I have no proof what so ever, but I have the feeling it's just more "sounds good marketing".

Just my opinion.

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the notifications you get and windows defender appears red and incative in the taskbar is annoying for me and plays on my OCD lol

Richard1990 said:

i would appreciate an update, because I'm far away from being a Tech person and would never figure it out on my own. I'm still trying to figure out the difference between CPU and Hard Disk lol

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Hi @Richard1990, and welcome. I spend time on this several days a week, but so far, haven't found a solution. I've been slowly and methodically deleting some "old" drivers using RAPR.exe, but I feel this is precarious, and am afraid I'll mess something up which won't be apparent until later, and I'll never make the connection with the removed driver. I'm taking copious backups along the way.

I'm also trying other stuff, and will post back here if anything seems to work.

My remote session with a customer representative from Microsoft ended like 20 minutes ago. I have to mention how responsive and cooperative she was.
I explained my problem and she informed me that Microsoft is aware of the problem and the engineers are working on an upcoming update that will fix the issue for all the affected users, since some people can turn “core isolation” ON after removing the incompatible drivers and some cannot, even though they do not have any incompatible driver at all (which was my case) or at least Microsoft does not detect any.
After some random prompts and some command as CheckHealth, RestoreHealth etc… she informed me that she will download a file for me and force “core isolation” ON, which she did.
So my problem is not rightfully fixed, but forcibly. Until Microsoft releases a new update, hopefully soon, and fix the problem for good.
I personally believe that there are some drivers that affect the feature, but are still undetectable by Microsoft Security. I find it too risky to uninstall them 1 by 1, unless you wanna restart and restore every time you delete a wrong driver. I believe I’m safe for now after two months of research and hours spent trying with my very basic knowledge in computers.
I sincerely recommend contacting Microsoft Support if you are too worried about your security and privacy, because they were so helpful.

I’m writing this on my phone, i can share the file that she downloaded on my pc and forced the “core isolation” ON, if anyone needs it.

Ghot said:

If it helps at all... I can turn both on, but don't.
I seriously doubt it's un-hackable, so what's the point.

I have no proof what so ever, but I have the feeling it's just more "sounds good marketing".

Just my opinion.

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My brother works in cyber security and I had to question him about some stuff after reading what you wrote, because I sincerely don’t know if it actually works or not.
In summary, he explained to me that “old malware” used to be detected by Antivirus with a combination of name, size, shape and code. But “new generation” security works on identifying malware by BEHAVIOR.

“Core isolation” is important because it won’t allow these sophisticated malware that look like normal files to invade and affect your system with their stupid behaviors and most importanly your memory. I hope this helps, I just learned it lol

In my case, I was able to get Core isolation running. I just can't seem to enable Memory Integrity (and without that, no kernel enforced stack protection).

safron said:

In my case, I was able to get Core isolation running. I just can't seem to enable Memory Integrity (and without that, no kernel enforced stack protection).

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It is the same. That’s what she fixed for me, you can see it in the photo attached. “Memory Integrity” is now on and it says: this setting is managed by your administrator. Because it was forced “ON” by Microsoft. Stop wasting time like I did, because the problem is from Microsoft, not us. They should be able to detect all drivers affecting the feature in the next update.

P.S. when I said “core Isolation” I meant “Memory integrity” as they are in the same Tab.

Richard1990 said:

My brother works in cyber security and I had to question him about some stuff after reading what you wrote, because I sincerely don’t know if it actually works or not.
In summary, he explained to me that “old malware” used to be detected by Antivirus with a combination of name, size, shape and code. But “new generation” security works on identifying malware by BEHAVIOR.

“Core isolation” is important because it won’t allow these sophisticated malware that look like normal files to invade and affect your system with their stupid behaviors and most importanly your memory. I hope this helps, I just learned it lol

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AV programs have been identifying and quarantining heuristic behaviors for years.
As I said... this sound like glorified marketing to me.

Microsoft has been claiming to have solutions for all kinds of things, over the years. Most of the time they're a day late and a dollar short. For example... they've been working on Windows Defender for what... 8 years now, and they still haven't gotten the bugs worked out.

It's fine by me if you want to jump on the Memory Integrity and Core Isolation bandwagon.
Personally, I wouldn't lose any sleep if you can't get it working.

Ghot said:

AV programs have been identifying and quarantining heuristic behaviors for years.
As I said... this sound like glorified marketing to me.

Microsoft has been claiming to have solutions for all kinds of things, over the years. Most of the time they're a day late and a dollar short. For example... they've been working on Windows Defender for what... 8 years now, and they still haven't gotten the bugs worked out.

It's fine by me if you want to jump on the Memory Integrity and Core Isolation bandwagon.
Personally, I wouldn't lose any sleep if you can't get it working.

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Brother, I just wanted to get my problem fixed. Not because I wasn’t getting sleep because of it, but it just faffs me off when something is wrong and unfixable for no obvious reason. I might turn in off now

Richard1990 said:

Brother, I just wanted to get my problem fixed. Not because I wasn’t getting sleep because of it, but it just faffs me off when something is wrong and unfixable for no obvious reason. I might turn in off now

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IMO when they get Core Isolation and Memory Integrity working... properly, people will just be able to turn it on (one toggle), and be done with it. If there's a driver issue, it should automatically fix the issue.
Until that time... I can live without it.

I'm lazy. I wait till MS has things working properly, before I worry about those things.

Just my two cents.

Ghot said:

IMO when they get Core Isolation and Memory Integrity working... properly, people will just be able to turn it on (one toggle), and be done with it. Until that time... I can live without it.

I'm lazy. I wait till MS has things working properly, before I worry about those things.

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I came here trying to find someone who already solved the problem I'm facing, and @safron is the only one having my exact same issue. I fixed mine, so I'm literally just telling him how to fix his.

Richard1990 said:

I came here trying to find someone who already solved the problem I'm facing, and @safron is the only one having my exact same issue. I fixed mine, so I'm literally just telling him how to fix his.

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It's OK.
I just want people to know, that survival without Core Isolation and Memory Integrity is possible.

In post #6 I explained what was needed to make them work.
IF... it still doesn't work... it's Microsoft's fault, not the OP's. I would wait till MS fixes it, but that's just me.

SOLUTION:
go download this file via the link.


Open it with "Registry Editor" and allow.

Restart your PC.

you will now see "Memory Integrity" / "Core isolation" toggled "ON"

Cheers!

N.B: you can anytime go back and turn off "memory intergrity" by going to apps and reset "Windows Defender".

FYI - The file described above sets one registry entry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity]
"Enabled"=dword:00000001

It also references the source of this Turn_ON_Core_isolation_Memory_integrity.reg file as:


Some additional information can be found there, plus a link to the reversal Turn_OFF_Core_isolation_Memory_integrity.reg
Which, as expected, simply sets the same entry to dword:00000000