Driver will not load after upgrading to Windows 11

[tenncamper]

Good morning and thank you for letting me join the forum.  I have the HP desktop described above and recently upgraded to Windows 11. After completing the upgrade,  I  get this message from Windows after boot is complete. 

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Program Compatibility Assistant

A driver cannot load on this device

Driver: Hpportlox64.sys

A security setting is detecting this as a vulnerable driver and blocking it from loading.

You'll need to adjust your settings to load this driver.

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Windows 11 works without issue. I do not know what this driver is for, or if I need it.

Can someone advise on what can be done to eliminate this error?

Thank you

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Good morning:

Please see if the info at the link below is of help to you:

HpPortlox64.sys. driver won't load - HP Support Community - 9388523

If that doesn't help, you can turn off the Microsoft Vulnerable Driver Block list in the Core Isolation settings menu.

Type Core Isolation in the Windows search box/icon to quickly get to that setting.

[tenncamper]

Paul, thank you for your quick reply.

I had found that post before I joined, but did not think it applied because I do not have a HP printer. I should have put that in my post.

I am concerned about turning off the "driver block list"  completely.

I thought someone might tell me what this driver is for, whether I even need it and if not how I can eliminate it from trying to load at all.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know what program is causing that issue.

Googling 'uninstall Hpportlox64.sys' all point out to HP printer software, and I cannot find any specific info on how to uninstall it.  Lots of questions, no answers.

If you have never had a HP printer installed, my assumption is that the file is included in the HP factory image for your PC which when on W10 worked fine because Windows 10 did not have that vulnerable driver blocklist option that I can recall.

If you can't figure out how to get rid of the file, or turn off the vulnerable driver blocklist, you will probably have to back up your files and do a clean install of W11 25H2 with the Microsoft installation media from the link below to ensure it's gone.

Download Windows 11

[tenncamper]

Paul,

I do know how to turn off that "vulnerable driver" thing. It was an optional thing to turn on in later versions of windows 10 but I did not use it. Maybe if I had this error might have reared it's head then. Just don't know. 

I really do not want to uninstall and reinstall all the HP stuff. It's just not worth it if I am not having any other problems with Windows 11.

So I guess I will either live with the error message or turn off that vulnerable driver option.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

It's easy to turn off that setting.

Settings>Privacy & Security>Windows Security>Device Security>Core Isolation>Core Isolation Details>Turn off the Vulnerable driver blocklist setting and restart the PC