Faronics Products & Core Isolation / Memory Integrity (Code Integrity)

Overview

This article describes the process of installing Deep Freeze on systems supporting the Memory Integrity function of Core Isolation (also known as Code Integrity) in later versions of Windows. 

Problem

Currently, Deep Freeze does not support the Memory Integrity feature of Windows 10 and Windows 11. In Deep Freeze versions prior to 8.63, the installer attempted to automatically disable Memory Integrity to address compatibility issues. However, on some systems this approach was not always effective, occasionally leading to a system that could not boot.

Starting from Deep Freeze 8.63, Memory Integrity is no longer disabled automatically. Instead, if the Deep Freeze installer detects that Memory Integrity is enabled, it will prevent the installation and log an appropriate error message in C:\DFInstall.log. Additionally, during the user interface installation, a corresponding pop-up notification will be displayed to alert the user of the incompatibility.

Impacted Products

At this time the following Faronics products are impacted by this issue;

• Deep Freeze Enterprise / Standard
• Faronics Antivirus
• Faronics Power Save
• Faronics WINSelect
• Deep Freeze Cloud (All Services)

Workaround / Resolution

Customers who wish to run the impacted products will need to ensure that Core Isolation is disabled prior to installation. Instructions on this process can be found here; 

How to Disable Core Isolation

Faronics is working on updates to our products to address this issue. For further information and to be updated as information becomes available please contact the support team to open a support ticket regarding this issue.

Upgrading to versions of Deep Freeze after 8.63

When performing a straight upgrade of Deep Freeze from older versions to version 8.63 onwards, there is no need to take any specific actions regarding Memory Integrity. This is because old versions of Deep Freeze automatically disable and enforce the Memory Integrity option.

The same applies when upgrading by uninstalling older versions of Deep Freeze and installing version 8.63 since after uninstallation the Memory Integrity option remains disabled.