Block or Unblock Legacy File System Filter Drivers in Windows 10

How to Block or Unblock Legacy File System Filter Drivers in Windows 10

Starting in Windows 10 version 1607, administrators and driver developers can use a registry setting to block legacy file system filter drivers. Legacy file system filter drivers are drivers that attach to the file system stack directly and don't use Filter Manager.

For optimal reliability and performance, it's recommended to use file system minifilter drivers instead of legacy file system filter drivers. Also, legacy file system filter drivers can’t attach to direct access (DAX) volumes. For more about file system minifilter drivers, see Advantages of the Filter Manager Model. To port your legacy driver to a minifilter driver, see Guidelines for Porting Legacy Filter Drivers.

For more details, see: Blocking legacy file system filter drivers | Microsoft Docs

This tutorial will show you how to block and unblock legacy file system filter drivers from loading or attaching to storage volumes in Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to block and unblock legacy file system filter drivers.

Here's How:

The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD in the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\I/O System

IoBlockLegacyFsFilters DWORD

0 = Unblock
1 = Block

1 Do step 2 (block) or step 3 (not block) below for what you would like to do.

2 To Block Legacy File System Filter Drivers

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Block_Legacy_FS_Filter_Drivers.reg

Download

3 To Not Block Legacy File System Filter Drivers

This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Unblock_Legacy_FS_Filter_Drivers.reg

Download

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7 Restart the computer to apply.

8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn

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