Uninstalling HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor

[RGPG_99]

Hi all,

The combination of HP 3D Driveguard (software) and HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor (system device) are preventing me from using newer, larger (1TB and 2TB) external USB hard drives. I've uninstalled Data Protection Sensor and when I reboot the computer, the larger drives are detected and they work, but around 90 seconds later Data Protection Sensor reinstalls itself and kicks the larger hard drives out.

The HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor entry in Device Manager -> System Devices has five associated files:

C:\Windows\System32\accelerometerdll.dll

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\accelerometer.sys

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\hpdskflt.sys

C:\Windows\System32\HPMDPCoInst.dll

C:\Windows\System32\HPservice.exe

It is the hpdskflt.sys file that is loaded onto each disk drive (visible in Drive Details in Device Manager) that is blocking the larger drives to be properly recognized.

I've uninstalled the HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor in Device Manager (checking the box Delete the Driver Software for this Device), but upon reboot it loads again.

I've uninstall the HP 3D Driveguard software with CCleaner, hoping that would get rid of loose ends, registry keys, etc., but although Driveguard did not come back, the Data Protection Sensor did.

I disabled a service called 'HP Service" thinking that may be triggering the reinstall, but each time I reboot, the service has changed itself to "Automatic" instead of "Disabled".

I've uninstalled multiple times, rebooting in safe mode, but even in safe mode. the Data Protection Sensor reinstalls itself.

I created a security policy to prevent the system device from being reinstalled using it's device ID (ACPI\ACPI0003\2&DABA3FF&2), but it somehow circumvented the policy and reinstalled itself.

On a few occasions, when the Data Protection Sensor took too long to reinstall, the larger external drives were recognized and mounted properly (an entry was visible under Disk Drive and USB Mass Storage in the Device Manager, the disks showed under Disk Management, and they were accessible under Computer). But as soon as the Data Protection Sensor finished reinstalling itself, the disks were dismounted (they disappeared from Disk Drive, USB Mass Storage, Disk Management, and Computer) and they were moved to Other Devices with a yellow exclamation point in the Device Manager.

Oddly enough, other external USB disks that I've been using for the past 3 years still work fine, as do USB memory keys. I seems like, somewhere between a year and a half ago (when I got my last external disk) and now, the Data Protection Sensor sofware has been changed in a way that it is not compatible with newer disks. I tried to roll back the driver to an old 2009 version, but the results were the same (there may be other files associated with the driver that did not roll back to 2009).

The only solution I see at this point is to remove the HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor permanently, but everything I have tried so far has failed. I would appreciate your suggestions.

[HaggisCat]

Go to the control panel and disable the drive guard there first. You may have to click on "Icon" view in the upper right corner to find it. ( It has it's own Icon and user control panel where it first must be disable)

 Go to "Programs and Features" and uninstall it as you did before and you will be prompted to restart your computer.

 Go to the device manage and find the Drive Guard under "System Devices"

 Uninstall the driver as you did before and tick this box off as shown in the screen shot and restart the computer.

 

 This will of course create a warning sign in the device manager, and it should stay that way even after restarting the computer. I believe the trick is to do it in the order that I've laid out here.

 If the program reinstalls itself it may be possible that the HP Support Assistant is installing automatically.

[RGPG_99]

Thank you for your response. Those steps are similar to what I did before, but just to make sure, I reinstalled the HP 3D DriveGuard with the latest version from the HP website, and I followed your steps exactly. I even took the precaution, before uninstalling DriveGuard, to uninstall the HP Advisor, the HP Assistant, the HP Wireless Assistant, etc. just to make sure none of those would check my system and try to reinstall the Mobile Data Sensor.

As I unfortunately expected, after the last step (uninstalling the HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor from System Devices in the Device Manager, and rebooting the computer) the Data Protection Sensor reapearred in the Device Manager after a couple of minutes.

I also started a thread on the Hardware forum for ideas on how to make the large external HDs to work, in the event the Data Protection Sensor cannot be uninstalled.

[HaggisCat]

Well that sucks !

 I have an HDX18 and a dv8 both have the accelerometer built into the motherboards and when I follow the steps that I have given you, the driver does not reinstall itself, it will if the program remains in "Programs and Features"

 Maybe it's because both my  machines are running retail versions of W7, although that shouldn't make a differenc, I would think, but you never know.

 What's you're model number ?

 I am also going to assume that simply disabling the Drive Guard in the control panel will not allow you to connect up your USB drives. There should be an option there for that.

 If not I can send you an older version of the software, where this is possible.

[RGPG_99]

I remember seeing somewhere on one of the HP utilities (either Advisor or Assistant) that this was a "customized" version of Windows 7. If by that they mean they have packaged extra utilities, or they have actually modified the OS, I don't know. By looking at the partitions you also get a sense of how HP customizes preloaded OSs. Here's a snapshot of Disk Management:

I've found plenty of posts on the Internet where HP notebook users have lost access to their USB mouse, or a USB camera, etc., after installing an update of Data Protection Sensor. I guess now I've joined the ranks.

The HP site has references to older editions of this software up to Vista, so the downloads seem to be available. But I still don't know if this issue was always there, and people just didn't know because consumer grade 1TB and 2TB drives were not out there 2-3 years ago, or whether it's a new issue caused by recent updates.

If I don't find a solution, I'll have to continue to boot my computer from an Ubuntu memory key to do my backups...or maybe I'll sell this computer as it's still in good shape, and switch manufacturer...Lenovo seems to be doing well... 

[RGPG_99]

Model number is DV6t-2000 CTO according to the online utility on the UP website. But my SIW shows number NQ615AV.

The generic name is HP Pavilion Entertainment PC (of which there are a couple hundred models on the HP website).

Regarding disabling DriveGuard from the control panel, that was the first thing I tried, but it did not make any difference. The interface (pretty basic) does not even show the USB drives that are connecting fine. The HP website says that USB connections are not supported (they are actually ignored, I would add). Given that I have other USB drives that are connecting fine (see attached below), it just shows that the DriveGuard software may not be as stable as one would like it to be.

[melivas]

RGPG_99

Hi,

If you still are unable to uninstall HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor (HPMDPS) then disable it, the following way,

since disable is grayed out:

1. Rename C:\Windows\System32\accelerometerdll.DLL to whatever

2. Rename C:\Windows\System32\drivers\Accelerometer.sys

3. Restart your laptop 

4. Goto device manager

5. HPMDPS with yellow exclamation mark, disable is now an option

6. Disable HPMDPS

7. Exclamation mark (!) changes to down arrow (disabled)

8. Restore both initial accelerometer file names, in case you want to re-enable HPMDPS

9. Restart laptop HPMDPS remains disabled

[PR0X1MAC3NTAUR1]

I believe I found the answer to everybodys problem, it's a Windows update that makes the driver come back from the dead. What you got to do is hide the update and that should fix the problem.

[HPUser1012]

My HP Laptop came from the factory with the HP Mobile Data Protection software, despite the fact it included an SSD drive - which makes the entire point of this software completely irrelevant (SSD drives cannot be physically parked).

I was having intermittent blue screen of death windows crashes with the culprit always the HPDSKFLT.SYS kernel driver - this seemed to frequently be correlated with plugging/unplugging USB devices or loss of internet connectivity, but also would sometimes happen at seemingly random times.

As the software is completely useless for my laptop and was actively causing crashes, I decided to remove it. Uninstalling the HP Mobile Data Protection software from the control panel took away the associated windows application, but left the problematic HPDSKFLT.SYS kernel driver and the BSOD crashes continued.

I followed the instructions from HaggisCat in this thread to uninstall the HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor entry from Windows Device Manager and that successfully removed the problematic HPDSKFLT.SYS kernel driver from my system. The Device Manager now shows an "Unknown Device" (presumably because it detects the accelerometer hardware), but I disabled it and will just ignore the entry.

So far the BSODs have not recurred. Fingers crossed!

[AFW]

Hi Melivas,

I don't think so as the HP laptop running on VistaSp2 won't boot (hangs) when a hardware device is disabled.....

Cheers

Frank