Thank you for all the work you’ve done troubleshooting this issue @prismprocess. I recently built a new 12th gen Intel system and did a clean install of Windows 11, as Windows 10 doesn’t take advantage of the efficiency cores in the new Alder Lake chips. I ran into this same issue after installing Wavelab 11 and would have had trouble tracking down what program installed this old Gear driver if not for this thread.
I can confirm running the GEARAspi_Remover.exe program from Index of gearsoftware.com/downloads/freebies/ solves the issue. A quick test confirmed Wavelab still runs after removing the driver, but I’m staying away from the built in CD burning functionality!
Steinberg could easily band-aid this problem by offering a checkbox to not install the CD burning functionality in Wavelab. Like others in this thread, I haven’t used this functionality in ages!