Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Early Launch Antimalware Description
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. If you enable this policy setting you will be able to choose which boot-start drivers to initialize the next time the computer is started. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the boot start drivers determined to be Good, Unknown or Bad but Boot Critical are initialized and the initialization of drivers determined to be Bad is skipped. If your malware detection application does not include an Early Launch Antimalware boot-start driver or if your Early Launch Antimalware boot-start driver has been disabled, this setting has no effect and all boot-start drivers are initialized.
Registry
System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch Value name: DriverLoadPolicy
MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/System/BootStartDriverInitialization Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch]
"DriverLoadPolicy"=dword:00000001
"DriverLoadPolicy"=dword:00000003More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
$path = 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Value 1 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Value 3 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/System/BootStartDriverInitialization
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>
<data id="SelectDriverLoadPolicy" value="3"/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Expected 3 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
$path = 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Value 1 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Value 3 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Expected 3 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
$path = 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Value 1 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -Value 3 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.