Disable and Turn Off (or Enable or Turn On) Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in Windows Vista
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is security feature that first introduced in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and is included in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows Vista, plus future operating system. DEP is intended to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region. DEP is enforced by hardware technology that detects code that is running from the default heap and the stack and raises an exception to terminate the process when execution occurs, and software-enforcer that prevent malicious code from taking advantage of exception-handling mechanisms in Windows. In short, DEP perform additional checks on memory to prevent malicious code or exploits from running on the system by shut down the process once detected.
However, Data Execution Prevention may accidentally shut down legitimate process from valid applications or services, particularly third-party installers used by software developers that release their products for download through the Web, or software programs that are less commonly used. To make thing worse, DEP normally does not or fails to display or show any warning or information or acknowledgment message prompt that can let you know that DEP has shut down a process, thus causing you unaware of the reason why your setup file cannot run, or why your computer cannot start a service and etc.
Good news is that you can disable or turn off Data Execution Prevention (DEP) globally in Windows Vista. To stop the DEP protection, launch an elevated command prompt shell with administrative priviledges and credentials (log on to Windows Vista with a user account with administrator rights, and then right click on Command Prompt icon and select “Run as Administrator, or turn off UAC). Then execute the following command:
bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
If you regret your decision and now wants to enable or turn back on the DEP protection for your Windows Vista, simply use the following command instead:
bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOn
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February 6th, 2010 01:25
To all the people who cant get it to work, You’re probably running command prompt as yourself. You must right click and click “Run as administrator” Even if you are on the admin file it wont work unless you do that.
January 6th, 2010 15:19
I disabled it for a game. It does not work well anyway. I have tried twice (& restarted twice) to turn it back on and it won’t.
January 6th, 2010 13:42
Worked perfectly for me.
For those who it failed for, be sure to right-click RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR when you open the command prompt. If you do this successfully the title bar should say Administrator, also the path should be C:\Windows\System32.
NB Being logged in as an Administrator is not the same thing. And it will still say ‘the command executed successfully’ even when it hasn’t. You must run the command prompt in the elevated environment.
December 30th, 2009 05:56
DONT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS SHIT, IT DOESNT WORK AT ALL
December 30th, 2009 05:55
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS SHIT, IT DOESN’T WORK AT ALL
December 19th, 2009 17:12
Well – the VITAL final part of the exercise … is the REBOOT. Then it takes effect!
December 19th, 2009 14:18
I am afraid that switch does not work. The command instruction executed successfully, but when I then used your tip to check the settings – nothing had changed.
I need to turn this damned thing off as it constantly causes all my 4 browsers to crash.I have an image file of my C: partition to rstore if need be.
Adrian
November 28th, 2009 12:44
it does not work
November 6th, 2009 01:53
omg i followed your instructions and it didnt work, then i found out how to do it the normal way through selecting certain programs for DEP to ignor but it wont let me put a check on either box and i think its becuase of the command prompt. i tried to set it back on again and it said it couldnt do it acces deinied or something. HELP!!
November 5th, 2009 04:50
its still not letting me publish i have got to the part of pasting – bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff – in but were do i go from there? there isnt anything saying update or whatever
November 5th, 2009 04:45
were is this command prompt etc
October 15th, 2009 15:25
[...] Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is disabled either in the BIOS or in the operating system. [...]
October 15th, 2009 05:22
DUDE YOU ARE AWSOME THANKS SOOOO SOOOO MUCH
October 2nd, 2009 17:24
wow! thanks! it actually worked for me Vista Ultimate! Now, i can play Starcraft again! LOL