Are you running third party security?
I ask because the screen shot looks like it might be a security message and I have had issues in the past with some well known third party solutions.
Windows 11 Defender might be blocking the Gear driver by default.
No, no extra security only what ships with Windows 11 Enterprise. The driver is not on the manual implementation of the block list in that link you give. Maybe they have added it to the list for Windows 11? It certainly does not like it at all and I am not going to switch off Device Guard just to run Wavelab. To do such a thing would be a false economy.
iTunes used to use the driver until recently but now does not. Ultimately the solution for Wavelab would involve finding an alternative to using GEARAspiWDM.sys.
Hi Kay,
Can you please tell us if installing or reinstalling the Gear drivers In Windows 11 upgrade or clean install causes the computer to become unbootable. And if so, what are the recovery options if System Restore was turned off.
One wonders if because the DVD is external this issue is occurring? Would this happen with a internal Desktop DVD player?
Maybe the external DVD player needs to be Win11 approved?
Still on Win10 here but ready to switch to Win11 when Steinberg gives it a thumbs up. The nice thing here is, although my MB has the TPM option, it is turned off by default so there’s no way an update will happen.
@mr.roos There is no DVD drive - not internal nor external. The issue is about the Windows included ‘Virtual Drive’ that is created every time an .iso file (disk image) is ‘mounted’. And apparently is broken in a non-supported OS by the GEAR driver.
@Arjan_P @mr.roos Just for the benefit of seeing it visually…
I install Wavelab Pro 11.0.10 with the DVD plugged and immediately it is installed the DVD vanishes from explorer. I cannot mount any iso file either and it hangs the system until it decides to tell me it cannot mount the file…
I uninstall Wavelab and reboot (which will reload the original driver (cdrom.sys I believe). As you can see below the DVD is back (with OMD’s new CD in it 
) and not only that but the capability to mount an iso has returned.
Hi,
I tested this on my PC.
I have the latest Windows 11 installed.
Additionally, I have WaveLab 11 Pro installed.
I, too, have only an external DVD drive.
I tried to mount iso-files and it worked flawlessly.
No matter if, the DVD drive is plugged in or not.
For me, there is no issue.
Regards
The only reason why I can think that is the case for you is that you have switched off Memory Integrity. Check here…Windows Security->Device Security->Core Isolation->Memory Integrity to see if it is set to off. The driver error for GEARAspiWDM.sys appears here on every clean installation of Windows 11 with Wavelab 11 installed when Memory Integrity is switched on (which is the default setting and the way it should be).
OK, I did a little bit of digging here.
I actually had this setting off.
But it did not show, since my CPU virtualization setting in the UEFI bios was off as well.
So now it is possible to activate it, but it directly says that this driver is not compatible.
So, there is no way at the moment to do this.
Regards
Just an addendum: This feature is only enabled by default on new installations. When you do an upgrade from Win10 this is disabled by default.
@Trombomaniac That is most helpful. It shows 100% that the driver is considered to be incompatible using Memory Integrity My TPM 2.0 is firmware. Most laptops have dedicated chips on their motherboards since 2016 or so. Mine is on (the default) in the BIOS and here is mine in the TPM mmc (tpm.msc).
It’s a big issue for not just Wavelab but for other software that use that driver. .
Thank you for testing and confirming this.
If you do not need this Gera driver, you could use Sysinternals Autorun and disable it. Then it should be possible to mount iso-files again.
Yes but eventually I will want Wavelab to work as it should and the OS to behave normally with regard to iso/cd/dvd/bluray at the same time.
You can see what is going to happen in the very near future when people buy Windows 11 ready computers or clean install Windows 11 and then go on to install Wavelab 11.
Also those who upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 (which most will do as its free) will be vunerable to exploits because the upgrade will have disabled the default security features.
Which it may, once formally supported.
Hi prismprocess, can you check if the option under Windows 11 (German Language) is enabled or disabled on your side?
Hi Kay,
It is enabled here…
Wavelab and the Gear CD driver are not alone. Since I discovered this, I have also found that the driver for the Roland UM-ONE and the Line 6 UX2/Toneport are also in the bucket. I assume therefore (although I have not tried yet) that the Boss Micro BR BR-80 and Line 6 UX1 drivers will also fail.
There is one thing that all these (including Wavelab 11) have in common is that the drivers that they use are old meaning they have not have not been updated for many years.
The problem is going to happen with on every computer that has a clean install of Windows 11 with a 11th Generation CPU, TPM 2.0 and 8GB of RAM or more because Core Isolation/Memory Integrity is enabled by default.
Here in this link they spell it out completely…
Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity enablement | Microsoft Docs
I guess it is forcing app developers to have up to date drivers.
Hi bob99,
Yes. On this page, there is:
http://www.gearsoftware.com/downloads.php?dir=freebies/
GEARAspi_Remover.exe
and to reinstall:
http://www.gearsoftware.com/downloads.php?dir=updates/windows/drivers/
Hi prismprocess, so on your Windows 11 system would it helps to de-activate that mentioned option?
He did not ask that…
Doing the above on a clean installation of Windows 11 would render the computer unbootable because the driver is not compatible with the Windows security.
this procedure can be done in case of first removing the gear driver and then please try again to check if the main problem still exisits. We will do further invetigations about that issue.
