Memory integrity is turned off

Royboy 0 Reputation points
2026-08-08T10:48:37.3833333+00:00

Memory integrity is turned off on my Dell Inspiron 3881 because of an incompatible driver wdcsam64-prewin8.sym from Western Digital and I can't find a solution

Windows for home | Other | Devices and drivers
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  1. DaveM121 (2) 16,840 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-08-08T11:30:20.28+00:00

    If you have a Western Digital drive, the wdcsam64-prewin8.sym driver is not the driver that controls the drive, that driver is part of the WD Drive Utilities or WD SmartWare app you have installed on your PC.

    The easiest method to resolve this problem is to open File Explorer.

    Go to C:\Windows\System32

    Perform a search for wdcsam64-prewin8.sym

    When you find that driver, right click it an choose \Rename, then rename the driver to wdcsam64-prewin8.old.

    Then restart (not shut down) your PC to apply the change.

    If you are unable to rename the driver, restart Windows in safe mode and rename the driver in there.

    Or if you are unable to find the driver it may be located in the Western Digital folder in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) folders.

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  2. Kapil Arya 38,541 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-08-08T11:16:33.0533333+00:00

    You can use Microsoft tools such as Autoruns, to remove incompatible driver and enable Memory Integrity.

    Let us know if this helps!

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  3. AI answer

    2026-08-08T10:48:54.92+00:00

    wdcsam64-prewin8.sym is being blocked by Memory integrity because it is incompatible. The supported fixes are:

    1. Check for an updated Western Digital driver
      • First try Windows Update.
      • If nothing is offered, check Western Digital for a newer compatible driver.
      • This is the preferred fix.
    2. Remove the app or device that uses that driver
      • If Western Digital does not provide a compatible update, remove the related Western Digital software or device driver.
      • Windows guidance states that if no compatible driver is available, removing the device or app that uses the incompatible driver may allow Memory integrity to be enabled.
    3. If the driver remains installed after uninstalling the device/software, remove the third-party driver package from the driver store
      • Open Windows Terminal (Admin).
      • List third-party drivers: 
             dism /online /get-drivers /format:table
      • Find the Published Name for the Western Digital driver package, such as oem13.inf.
      • Remove it: 
             pnputil /delete-driver oem13.inf /uninstall /force
      • Restart Windows, then try enabling Memory integrity again.
    4. Turn Memory integrity back on
      • Open Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Windows Security > Device Security > Core isolation > Core isolation details.
      • Turn Memory integrity On.
    5. If the driver is still needed and no update exists, the fallback is to leave Memory integrity off
      • Warning: turning off Memory integrity reduces protection. On a Secured-core PC, it also takes the device out of a Secured-core state.

    If Windows becomes unstable after enabling Memory integrity, recovery can be done from Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) by disabling policies that enabled it and setting this registry value to off:

    reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

    Use that only for recovery, because registry changes can affect boot and security state.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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