What does NTSTATUS 0xC000036C (STATUS_DRIVER_BLOCKED) mean?

 
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STATUS_DRIVER_BLOCKED_CRITICAL STATUS_DRIVER_DATABASE_ERROR

STATUS_DRIVER_BLOCKED

Find the blocking policy and the exact driver image

STATUS_DRIVER_BLOCKED means the load path rejected a driver. The status alone does not identify whether the relevant evidence is signature validation, Code Integrity policy, a vulnerable-driver block rule, or another driver-loading restriction. The first task is to preserve the exact image and the corresponding Code Integrity or driver-installation event.

Windows Code Integrity logs diagnostic events in the CodeIntegrity operational log. Microsoft also documents event 3076 for an audit result and 3077 for a file that enforcement blocked under applicable Windows Defender Application Control policy. Those event details are much more useful than repeatedly renaming or copying the .sys file.

What to inspect

  • Full driver path, file hash, signer, catalog/package identity and loaded Windows build.
  • CodeIntegrity operational events at the same timestamp and any policy name or rule identifier recorded there.
  • Whether the driver came from a coherent vendor package or a leftover binary from an older installation.
  • Whether the issue reproduces after installing a vendor-supported driver for the current platform.

Do not disable integrity protections merely to make the status disappear. Determine which rule rejected which binary; the safe correction is normally a compatible, properly packaged driver or an intentional policy change made with full knowledge of the affected image.

References


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