Solved Virtualization Based Security

Hello,

I noticed my Hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI) is disabled. I found these settings in the Local Group Policy Editor and was ready to go for it when
I thought I'd better ask. Does anyone else have this enabled on their system? I checked the tutorials and could not find any reference on these settings.

kellymac35 said:

Does anyone else have this enabled on their system? I checked the tutorials and could not find any reference on these settings.

Click to expand...

I do on two out of my three Windows 11 machines. It works the same in Windows 10, so this tutorial is relevant.


EDIT: This tutorial has now been updated for Windows 11.


Virtualisation Based Security should be enabled by default - providing all installed drivers are compatible with VBS. But if your system uses an incompatible driver you cannot enable it. See my post #34 here for more details, and why my 3rd machine can never run VBS.

Bree said:

Virtualisation Based Security should be enabled by default

Click to expand...

Yes it is enabled by default when Virtualization is enabled in the BIOS. Maybe the OP does not have Virtualization enabled their BIOS?

Hi folks

For ordinary home users a lot of this stuff is WAY OTT. Who as a typical home user using a Virtual Machine has anything to fear about a hacker getting in to some weird CPU trick to gain access to a machine --- to do what with I ask. The typical user is far more susceptible to scams etc which don't need any serious hacking at all. Why would people bother to spend a lot of time and hard work in gaining access to a small users machine -- to gain what -- 50 USD !! -- there's infinitely easier and larger pickings to be had by these "miscreants".

At a corporate level it's more important -- attacking infrastructure such as transport, energy and health sectors , media sites, dos attacks etc is these days where the problems will be at.

Just install the basic Windows WD software - and simply surf safely and take sensible precautions with emails etc. Even Torrent sites are relatively safe these days --they make money by advertising and people won't come back if their computers get loaded with malware. Don't though download .rar or other compressed files --if you want multi-media download the mp3/mp4/flac/m4a/mkv/avi files directly as it's almost impossible to include a nasty payload with those.

Most domestic Anti Virus products were designed for a different bygone era when the OS was as leaky as a sieve and scamming of the order we have today was in its infancy -- then hacking was a more serious problem on domestic machines. -- WD is fine now.

If you want to add 3rd party or other convoluted security measures then if it gives you peace of mind then OK - can't argue with that - but from a technical point of view it's 100% unnecessary these days provided you keep WD up to date. It's updated several times a week anyway.

For prevention against SCams only the Human Brain is successful currently. This type of prevention would take really sophisticated Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence and we are a long way off getting to that level of sophistication yet.

Cheers
jimbo

I personally feel VBS is worth the extra security even on my home PC. :) Scams on home users can lead to system takeovers.

I did a repair install of Windows 11 with an in-place upgrade a few weeks ago and I believe this is how my setting must have been changed. I went ahead and reenabled my setting in group policy now (HVCI) shows enabled. Thank you to all who responded.

jimbo45 said:

Who as a typical home user using a Virtual Machine has anything to fear about a hacker getting in to some weird CPU trick to gain access to a machine...
...Just install the basic Windows WD software - and simply surf safely...

Click to expand...

We are not talking about using a Virtual Machine here. We are talking about enabling one of the functions in your 'basic Windows WD software' - Core Isolation (a function that is normally on by default).