Disable Driver Verifier Outside Windows (Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11)

writhziden · Jan 18, 2013

Disable Verifier Outside Windows (Vista / 7 / 8/ 10 / 11)

The following tutorial uses advanced methods for troubleshooting Verifier conflicts with Windows. If you are not comfortable manually changing registry settings, please do not continue.

First, you will need to access the Windows Recovery Options.
Once you have access to the Windows Recovery Options screen, choose the command prompt.
Determine which drive contains your Windows Directory by checking the directory structure for all drives. The example below checks the c:, d:, and e: drives, but you may need to check others. The drive will not be the x: drive since the x: drive is a virtual drive in memory that contains the Windows recovery files.
Code:
```
dir c:
dir d:
dir e:
```
In the example below, the drive containing the Windows directory is the c: drive.
- NOTE: In the following steps, the drive letter containing Windows is c:, but yours may be different
The registry loaded in the recovery options environment contains only registry entries for allowing the recovery options to run. It does not include the registry information installed on the system.

You must first load the registry from your system into the recovery options registry before you can disable Verifier through the Windows recovery options registry editor.
Once the registry is loaded as TempSys, run the registry editor using the following command.
Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\TempSys\Select and then read the Current DWORD entry. The DWORD entry will have a number that corresponds to the ControlSet that is in use when the system is loaded.

In the below example, the DWORD number is 3, so ControlSet003 contains the Verifier information when Windows is loaded.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\TempSys\ControlSet00#\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\ where # is the number found in the SelectDWORD entry.
- Delete the VerifyDrivers and VerifyDriverLevel keys.
  - If you do not find the keys in the ControlSet you navigated through, check the other ControlSet keys in the same manner
Exit the Windows Registry Editor.
Unload the registry key for TempSys.
Exit the Command Prompt.
Then Restart your computer.

Vir Gnarus · Jan 18, 2013

This is awesome. Thanks!

writhziden · Jan 18, 2013

Happy to provide a useful tutorial. :-}

I came across the steps months ago, and I was reminded of them today due to a thread at TSF in which a user could not use System Restore to restore to a point before enabling Verifier. Verifier was causing crashes on boot, and Safe Mode could not be accessed in Windows 8. The registry steps worked perfectly, so I thought I would create a tutorial here for future reference to users with similar problems. Doesn't happen too often, but it is good to have the option to help users disable Verifier in the instances that it cannot be disabled through normal methods. We may encounter this more now with Windows 8 and the inability to reach Safe Mode using F8 as in the past.

jcgriff2 · Feb 1, 2013

:thumbsup2:

jayferd · Oct 3, 2013

jcgriff2 said:
:thumbsup2:

Thanks. I spent hours looking for something like this.

DreadStarX · Oct 3, 2013

Awesome tutorial! I understood everything, even though I couldn't see the pictures. School filters and all.

+1 Thanks :)

henriquede · Jul 16, 2015

I had register here only to THANK YOU writhziden. Amazing and helpful !!!! :thumbsup2::thumbsup2::thumbsup2:

Again

thanks, thanks and thanks.

You have to work at Microsoft !!!! Know things :thumbsup2:better than they !!!!

Radovici · Jun 22, 2017

writhziden: thank you so very much! I'm on windows server 2016 and the only way it boots up is w/ "disable driver signature enforcement", so I tried the verifier tool which made matters worse. Your post got me back in!

(btw - I got here via Driver Verifier Settings)

Shplad · Apr 7, 2019

The links are mostly dead, consequently, I can't see almost any of what I need to see to use this HOWTO. Any chance you could update it?

x BlueRobot · Apr 8, 2019

The markup probably needs changing for the images to show, and I'll investigate the broken links tonight. Thanks for raising this!

x BlueRobot · Apr 8, 2019

I've fixed the image attachments now.

x BlueRobot · Apr 8, 2019

I'm not sure if the original threads have been deleted or just moved to an inaccessible location?

For now, you can use the following - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17101/windows-7-system-recovery-options

writhziden · Apr 22, 2019

x BlueRobot said:
I'm not sure if the original threads have been deleted or just moved to an inaccessible location?

For now, you can use the following - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17101/windows-7-system-recovery-options

The links should point to: Windows Recovery Options (Windows 7 / Vista)

Links have now been updated.

Shplad · Apr 22, 2019

I don't want to overstay my welcome, but is there some way I can print the HOWTO? I don't know anything about coding, so I can't tell if
it's frames or what that is the problem, but I can only print or print to PDF the first page. Obviously, due to the nature of the HOWTO, you can understand
why I'd like to be able to have it on paper if I can't get a machine to boot. Hopefully I'm not asking too much.

writhziden · Apr 22, 2019

Shplad said:
I don't want to overstay my welcome, but is there some way I can print the HOWTO? I don't know anything about coding, so I can't tell if
it's frames or what that is the problem, but I can only print or print to PDF the first page. Obviously, due to the nature of the HOWTO, you can understand
why I'd like to be able to have it on paper if I can't get a machine to boot. Hopefully I'm not asking too much.

Here is a PDF version : DisableDriverVerifierOutsideWindows.pdf

Shplad · Apr 22, 2019

Will you marry me? 😂

Thank you so much!

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Disable Driver Verifier Outside Windows (Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11)

writhziden

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Disable Driver Verifier Outside Windows (Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11)

Administrator, .NET/UWP Developer

BSOD Kernel Dump Expert

Administrator, .NET/UWP Developer

Co-Founder/AdminBSOD Expert (Ret.)Microsoft MVP (Ret.)PRIMARILY RETIRED

New member

Well-known member

New member

New member

Active member

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator, .NET/UWP Developer

Active member

Administrator, .NET/UWP Developer

Active member

Co-Founder/Admin
BSOD Expert (Ret.)
Microsoft MVP (Ret.)
PRIMARILY RETIRED