How to resolve the error “VmWare Workstation can be run after disabling Device / credential Guard”?

When starting up your virtual machine, you may come across the hypervisor error asking you to disable system identification security. The error is quite confusing once it appears, as it doesn’t provide any clues as to how to remedy it. In this article, we’ll provide some clues to help you resolve this error effectively.

Why do I get the disabling Device/Credential Guard error?

It seems that the error “VMWare Workstation can be run after disabling Device/Credential Guard” is related to Device Credential Guard. This is a Windows feature that uses security-based virtualization to isolate credentials. When Device Credential Guard is enabled, it can cause conflicts with other virtualization software such as VMWare Workstation. This error is due to the activation of Windows features that cannot coexist with hypervisor acceleration. These include: Windows Sandbox, Virtual Machine Platform, Windows Hypervisor Platform, WSL2, Hyper-V.

To resolve this problem, you need to disable Device/Credential Guard. This can be done using the Windows security settings management tool or by editing the startup settings in the system configuration menu.

Disable Device Guard

The first step is to check whether the feature in question is active, so that it can be deactivated. You will then need to restart your computer to apply the change. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Press ‘Windows + R’ to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type ‘gpedit.msc’ in the Run dialog box and press Enter to open the local Group Policy Editor.
3. In the Local Group Policy Editor, go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Guard.
4. Double-click the Device Guard
5. Check the ‘Status’ column of the ‘Enable virtualisation-based security’ setting and if it is marked enabled, double-click the setting.
6. Click ‘Disabled’ in the window that opens and click ‘Apply’ before confirming the changes with the ‘OK’ button.

Once you have deactivated Device/Credential Guard, restart your computer to apply the changes. After rebooting, try running VMWare Workstation again. If the error persists, skip the next solution we suggest.

Check computer security settings

Update your operating system with the latest security updates. Then check that your antivirus and firewalls are not blocking VMWare Workstation. It often happens that specific applications need authorizations to run and thus access computer functions such as hypervision. Your security measures should ensure that this is not the case. If you have no anti-virus or firewall installed, you can simply run VMware as administrator. Finally, start a virtual machine and check whether the error persists. If not, continue with the next tip.

Disable Windows features

The persistence of the Device Guard error despite the feature being disabled in the Group Policy Manager means a conflict between applications. This often occurs when a new application has been installed or a Windows feature has been activated that conflicts with the hypervisor. As you can imagine, compatibility is a tricky concept on Windows, and even more so when it comes to system components that are not directly tangible. The following steps will help you to deactivate potential features that may conflict with Vmware :

1. Open the “Control Panel” by clicking on the Start button, then selecting “Control Panel”.
2. Click on “Programs”, then on “Programs and Features”.
3. In the left-hand column, click on “Enable or disable Windows features”.
4. Uncheck the box next to “Windows sandbox”, “Hyper”, “Windows hypervisor platform”, “Virtual machine platform”, “Windows subsystem for Linux” to disable it.
5. Click “OK” to confirm and wait for Windows to make the necessary changes.

When you have finished making the changes, Windows will prompt you to restart the computer. If you choose to restart the computer yourself at a later date, the changes will not be taken into account.

Update VMWare Workstation

    Updates may resolve some compatibility issues with Windows security features. In the case of the Workstation version of Windows, it may also be necessary to check the product key. Because if the key you’re using isn’t authentic to the software, it can create errors that freeze the system.

Contact technical support

   If the above steps don’t solve the problem, contact VmWare technical support for further assistance. They are certainly the best people to guide you through their products.

In short, the error “VMWare Workstation can only be run after Device Credential Guard has been deactivated” is probably due to a conflict between these two pieces of software. To solve this problem, you’ll need to disable Device Credential Guard, but make sure you understand the security implications before doing so. Obviously, you’ll need to know what you’ve done last to be able to fix it. This being the case, the conflict between applications means that when you recover VMware, the other application may no longer work.

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