Microsoft: Turn off security features to improve Windows 11 gaming performance
If you have upgraded a PC to Windows 11 and noticed a deterioration in gaming performance, your system may have suffered from the Nvidia performance issue. Or, and that is another potential cause that Microsoft just confirmed, it may be suffering because of the security features that Microsoft baked into the operating system.
Microsoft published a support page -- Options to Optimize Gaming Performance in Windows 11 -- in which it confirms that gaming performance may be impacted by Windows 11's security features Hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), short Memory Integrity, and the Virtual Machine Platform (VMP).
Virtual Machine Platform provides "core virtual machine services for Windows". Memory Integrity protects against certain types of attacks that aim to inject code into processes and ensures that loaded drivers are "signed and trustworthy".
These features improve protections against threats, but they may also impact the performance in "some scenarios and some configurations of gaming devices" according to Microsoft. The support page fails to reveal additional details or information about these scenarios or configurations. This leaves gamers with the task of finding out if performance is impacted by these security features on Windows 11 systems.
Microsoft notes that turning off the features makes the device vulnerable to certain types of threats.
Disabling Memory Integrity
Memory Integrity may not be enabled on many PCs that were upgraded from Windows 10. It is turned on by default on new systems.
To find out whether it is enabled or not, do the following:
- Select Start and then Settings.
- Open Privacy & Security > Windows Security.
- Activate Open Windows Security on the page that opens.
- Switch to the Device Security tab.
- Click on Core Isolation Details on the page under Core Isolation.
- Check if Memory Integrity is On or Off.
- If it is ON, toggle it to off.
Tip: you may turn on the feature at any time again by moving the slider to ON.
Turning off Virtual Machine Platform
To turn of VPM, do the following:
- Open Start, type Windows features and select "Turn Windows features on or off" from the list of results.
- Locate Virtual Machine Platform in the list of features that you may enable or disable.
- Uncheck the box to turn the feature off.
Note that a restart may be required to complete the change. You may undo the change at any time by checking the box again to enable it.
Closing Words
Microsoft does not reveal by how much these security features may impact the performance of PC games. Considering that the company published a support page that details the issue, it is almost certain that performance may be impacted noticeably.
Whether it is a good idea to remove these security features to improve gaming performance is for each Windows 11 user to decide. Many Windows 11 systems may not even have these features enabled by default, especially if they were upgraded from Windows 10.
The first feature update for Windows 11 has been released recently. It should now be available to more systems via Windows Update.
Now You: do you play PC games? (via The Verge / Deskmodder)
There is not still W11 23H2 and these instructions are nonsense by now. :[
It worked for me just fine. You’re probably not following the instructions clearly.
Just tried the password option and the OOBE option and didnt work.
Worked perfectly. Thank OP.
Worked perfectly for me just now. Specifically, the regedit option.
Is this cut and paste from a Microsoft PR paper, because it 1000% BS:
“By listening to user insights, Microsoft has demonstrated its commitment to refining the Windows experience based on real-world needs.”
Windows 11 is proof they don’t give a s*it.
Worked for me just now
I agree! Windows 11 was a downgrade to me and I kept all 8 computers in our family on Windows 10 as a result. They didn’t listen to any customers. The taskbar was THE main reason I stayed away from Windows 11. With 6 monitors, it is impossible to navigate so many browser tabs, without the feature. I will try the new version in the virtual box to see if it is worth it yet.
Microsoft did a terrible job with this implementation.
They simply need to employ the creator of StartAllBack to fix Windows. He is smarter and more talented than the entire campus of Microsoft employees.
lol
Thank you so much! I work in IT and this is extremely useful information!
Thanks man. The second method worked great!
I used the second method, and i got exactly what i expected.
Using the Bypass 2: Use a banned email address email worked fantastically as I had gone to far to use the bypass 1.
I will be back when I next have a problem.
Keep you the great work
W11 File Explorer is the worst crap ever done. W11 is the biggest shame ever.
Just one more reason for me to go to Linux when Windows 10 ages out.
@ MarineRecon,
Be careful which Linux distro you choose. Some of them don’t include the Wayland protocol which is a security issue i.e. apps can copy, paste and inject data without user interaction.
It’s included in Fedora: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/latest/system-administrators-guide/Wayland/
How about a DARK MODE for your website? That would be oh so nice.
Something like this : [https://img.justpaste.me/image/8617] maybe?
Done with ‘Dark Reader Extension for ? Firefox’ [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/]
This comment was written on [https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-installation-has-failed-how-to-fix-this-upgrade-error/#comment-4573155}
Definitely NOT! Once you get older and your eyesight starts to fail you’ll positively loathe dark mode.
Not sure what eye problems *you’re* having, but for me the exact opposite is true. Dark Mode is MUCH easier on my Eyes.
BTW- I’m 52, and have worked in IT all my life. Been staring at monitors for hours each day, most days of the week since the late 1980’s.
Microsoft completely ruined File Explorer by converting to XAML/WinUI/whatever new bloated modern garbage. Its worse than it ever was.
i tested it on win10 current edition. speeds up explorer like a charm
SO what is the priority numbers to give preference to ethernet over wireless?
Worked very well happy to have Windows Photo Viewer back in action in Windows-11
Worked for me (registry option) thank god, I can use the search option to find things on my computer again. Thank you so much!
Install Everything Search and dispense with Microsoft’s crappy search tool. https://www.voidtools.com/
Martin wrote an article on it: https://www.ghacks.net/2020/10/09/add-everything-search-to-the-windows-taskbar-for-even-faster-searches/
I presume the text “WindowsCopilot,,” is a typographical error (2023/09/17/how-to-disable-windows-copilot-in-windows/). The broken comment system unfortunately looks like it is populating itself via AI autopilot.
Hopefully, this Windows Copilot nonsense fails even more spectacularly than Cortana. Who requested this? We want all of the UX features removed back in 11, not this copilot nonsense.
I really don’t mind all of these Windows enhancement but Microsoft get one thing very wrong. ‘Opt in’, is far better than seek information and work to disable.
Turn off Windows Copilot entirely is not good enough.
How to uninstall Copilot entirely ?
@ ilev,
Use Gpedit or the registry. Explained in this article: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/17/how-to-disable-windows-copilot-in-windows/
With that snake oil salesman Panos gone, hopefully Windows can return to a normal desktop operating system without all the insanity it has right now in Windows 11.
Can we please stop being ‘politically correct’ (lying) and call them ads again instead of ‘suggestions’?
@ Martin,
Does your gpedit hack also turn off all the other “subscribed content” shown in the registry screenshot? Do you happen to know what all those are?
Thank you, I used the fake email option, it worked great.
I wish I had read this article a few months ago, as I purchased two refurbished Windows 10 Pro PCs to replace two older ones. The 1st one I entered an existing Microsoft account I had and it imediately setup OneDrive, adding it to the path names for the common folders such as Documents, Music, video, etc. I tried to just disable OneDrive but then had odd problems finding my data copied from another older PC. long story short I was able to remove all the entries from the registry after un-installing OneDrive.
The second refurbished PC I didn’t connect the WiFi adapter so during installation I was able to click on the no Internet option. Basically I did as you suggested above; set up a local login, disabled OneDrive from running on bootup, and eventually unInstalled it. No problems with folder paths, etc.
The registry option worked for me, but only me, not any other users. How do I make this apply to all users? Yes, I have admin rights.
Just decided to create a Windows 11 system image (went OK) and then went to look for this Co-Pilot crap, but it’s nowhere to be found on my system even though I’ve got the Pro version.
What I did find though in User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Cloud Content was the option to turn off all that Spotlight stuff. Glad to see the back of that anyway.