Core Isolation turned off due to WDCSAM64_PREWIN8.SYS incompatibility

Anonymous
2022-09-02T19:09:56+00:00

I have been running Windows 11 successfully on my Microsoft Surface for some time now with no problems.

Within the last day or so, I all of a sudden got a notification that Core Isolation has been disabled due to an incompatible driver, WDCSAM64_PREWIN8.SYS.

From what I can see, this driver is related to Western Digital. However, I do not have any Western Digital devices attached to my Surface, nor have I recently added/installed anything from Western Digital.

I have tried searching for this driver but have come up empty.

Surface | Surface Pro | Safety and security

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Anonymous
2022-11-28T10:37:21+00:00
  1. Select the Startbutton and type “Core isolation”.
  2. Select the Core Isolation system settings from the search results to open the Windows security app.

On the Core isolation page, you’ll find Memory integrity along with the toggle to turn it on

  • If you receive a notification / message says that the memory integrity can't be turn on follow the below steps.
  1. Try to scan and fix.
  2. If it is not solved, please click on "Review any driver incompatibilities".

3.We can see a driver or more.

  1. Please note the published name here is "oem46.inf"
  2. Select the Start button and type “Device Manager" and follow as shown below.

  1. Select the right driver from Device manager"oem46.inf" and right click and select remove driver.

Example :-

7. System needs to be restarted after removal of the driver.

Hopefully this will solve your issues no need to install any software for this.

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-31T08:31:32+00:00

    Right but I had to fish the (obsolete) WD portable HD out of the closet and connect it to my laptop in order for the drivers to appear.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-12-31T06:22:16+00:00

    Sounds like u need to reconnect the WD external device to yur system. Drivers should appear…Was receiving the same error on my Win11 laptop with my WD external device connected…. Did the following….

    1. Device Manager>go to VIEW, sort by DEVICES BY TYPE
    2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and look for WD DRIVE MANAGEMENT Devices. Expand the list. You should see a couple (or a few) options there.
    3. Right click on the first option, properties, driver details. Look for this driver file - WDCSAM64_PREWIN8.SYS.
    4. Once you find the driver file in question, exit back to the device manager, right click on the option that lists the driver file in question - "remove driver".
    5. Go back to core isolation in windows security and attempt to turn on memory integrity. If it prompts to restart the machine, do so. Verify memory integrity is on and Windows security is green and working as expected.

    You really shouldn’t have to install any additional software. Windows makes it pretty easy to remove/manipulate already installed drivers….

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-12-27T17:10:13+00:00

    I have tried several suggested solutions from the community and still have not been able to delete those drivers. I hated Western Digital and now use a Seagate so I don't ever plan on needing the drivers again. It irritates me that I can't delete them. I can't even find them!

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-12-27T14:43:43+00:00

    As good as deleting drivers in this case works, what if you really want to use western digital external hard drives?

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