Microsoft has announced plans to expand automatic startup of the Memory Integrity (HVCI) feature to more PCs running Windows 11. The rollout will begin in October 2026 as part of the standard monthly cumulative updates.
Previously, this feature was only enabled by default on fresh installs of Windows 11 and Security Core appliances. The core protection mechanism will now affect systems updated from older operating systems, as well as configurations that did not originally have the option enabled.
Hypervisor Code Isolation (HVCI) technology relies on virtualization-based security (VBS). It isolates core-mode code integrity checks from the rest of the system, preventing malicious or vulnerable drivers from loading before they execute. If necessary, the update will also automatically enable VBS itself.
Code checking places additional load on the memory subsystem and CPU. On modern processors with hardware-accelerated virtualization, frame rate drops are almost imperceptible, but on older chips (e.g., early generations with partial software emulation), average frame rate drops and game smoothness deterioration (by 1%) are possible. Yes, Microsoft itself recommends “temporarily” disabling the technology in order to improve computer gaming performance.
