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.

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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

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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).

How to complete disable windows Virtualization-Based Security.
Windows 11 24H2 build 4770