Could not start driver: Access is denied

[Raymondo]

I've started to get this error message when trying to start GPU-Z. I've tried reinstalling, rebooting and still it won't start. Can't seem to work out what to do next.

 

[W1zzard]

Is your temp folder writeable? Has GPU-Z ever worked on this machine? Does an older version work?

 

[Naki]

Yes, please try to open C:\Windows\temp\ folder.

Does Windows OS say you need to give access to the folder when you do this?
If so, please allow access. Then try GPU-Z again.

( Major Windows OS updates/upgrades tend to block user access to the TEMP folder (above) from time to time. )

 

[le040993]

I also have the same issue. Additionally, I find this:

I think Windows Defender is blocking the driver GPU-Z uses.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

May be that fakes use the same driver name! Thus, the risk of Windows "overblocking" is more real than ever before.

The blocking of legit software, is going to get old, fast!

Note that in multiple cases, no wonder people want Defender disabled, because people saw Defender fail to block malware, while non-malware software, is blocked!

It's sus when literal malware isn't blocked, OTOH! Especially when that happens very many times!

I literally fear there may need to be a lawsuit for third party software to not get blocked in the near-future. This can put legit graphics tuning software in jeopardy.
This can mean Afterburner gets banned next, even when not security-panic-worthy. More concerning by far, is if this security policy becomes default in the future on all Windows editions.

In most cases, especially non-corporate PCs, this security policy is not suitable, like it is with phones. Especially with banking being done on phones. OTOH, you want the strictest on phones.
Except for schools in many cases, but not all cases.

This is why there was push-back on the original Surface RTs! Even when I suspect all Surface laptops.

 

[W1zzard]

aha .. this is a false positive ..

who's your administrator? is this a domain PC? you're only running MS Defender as antivirus?

 

[Raymondo]

Is your temp folder writeable? Has GPU-Z ever worked on this machine? Does an older version work?

Yes the temp folder is writable. I've used GPU-Z for a couple of months without any issues and all of a sudden I couldn't start it. There may have been a Windows update and a reboot as this happens automatically. I've tried starting it from PowerShell as administrator too and still the same result. I've tried it with Windows Defender disabled too, same.

 

[Raymondo]

I also have the same issue. Additionally, I find this:
View attachment 380127
I think Windows Defender is blocking the driver GPU-Z uses.

I've just checked and I see the same message. I've sent it to my admin to see what he says.

 

[Raymondo]

My admin looked into this and Defender is blocking the driver as a low level threat. He added a process exclusion for the .exe in it's location and all is now working.

 

[le040993]

I also worked around the problem by adding an exclusion. So far, everything is working for me.

For the record, I'm running Windows 11 Pro for Workstations. From looking at the Microsoft docs, I do not believe that the feature blocking the GPU-Z driver is in Windows 11 Home.