Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy: registry value DriverLoadPolicyComputerHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch

Policy ID: POL_DriverLoadPolicy_Name
Scope: Computer Configuration
Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
Source: Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category: System › Early Launch Antimalware

This policy setting allows you to specify which boot-start drivers are initialized based on a classification determined by an Early Launch Antimalware boot-start driver. The Early Launch Antimalware boot-start driver can return the following classifications for each boot-start driver:
- Good: The driver has been signed and has not been tampered with.
- Bad: The driver has been identified as malware. It is recommended that you do not allow known bad drivers to be initialized.
- Bad, but required for boot: The driver has been identified as malware, but the computer cannot successfully boot without loading this driver.
- Unknown: This driver has not been attested to by your malware detection application and has not been classified by the Early Launch Antimalware boot-start driver.

See the full description on the Group Policy page ›

Registry

DriverLoadPolicy

-Computer

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch Current key

DriverLoadPolicy

REG_DWORDComputer

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch Current key

Enabled value: Depends on the option value
Element: Choose the boot-start drivers that can be initialized:

Options
Item	Stored value
Good only	8
Good and unknown	1
Good, unknown and bad but critical	3
All	7

Apply with .reg · CMD · PowerShell

.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch]

; Options (use only one)
; Good only
"DriverLoadPolicy"=dword:00000008
; Good and unknown
"DriverLoadPolicy"=dword:00000001
; Good, unknown and bad but critical
"DriverLoadPolicy"=dword:00000003
; All
"DriverLoadPolicy"=dword:00000007

CMD

:: Options (use only one)

:: Good only
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch" /v "DriverLoadPolicy" /t REG_DWORD /d 8 /f
:: Good and unknown
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch" /v "DriverLoadPolicy" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
:: Good, unknown and bad but critical
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch" /v "DriverLoadPolicy" /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f
:: All
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch" /v "DriverLoadPolicy" /t REG_DWORD /d 7 /f

PowerShell

# Common: create the key
New-Item -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Force | Out-Null

# Options (use only one)
# Good only
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -PropertyType DWord -Value 8 -Force | Out-Null
# Good and unknown
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -PropertyType DWord -Value 1 -Force | Out-Null
# Good, unknown and bad but critical
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -PropertyType DWord -Value 3 -Force | Out-Null
# All
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -PropertyType DWord -Value 7 -Force | Out-Null