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Participating Frequently
April 17, 2024

Creative Cloud compatibility issue with Windows 11 Memory Integrity (PxHlpa64.sys)

  • April 17, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 1881 views

As we discovered some time ago, there is a compatiblity issue with Adobe Creative Cloud and Windows Memory Integrity. This is due to an old driver (PxHlpa64.sys), that is beeing installed with the "Creative Cloud Desktop Application" installer, downloaded from the Admin Console. This drivers belongs to some disk burning part.

 

This issue seems to exist for some time now (2022) and I must ask why doesn't Adobe adress this problem?

We can not updated our computers running Creative Cloud because of that and we need a solution asap. Please do not ask for any log files etc., It is as simple as described above and can be replicated by anybody.

 

Thank you.

2 replies

kglad
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 18, 2024

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



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kglad
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 17, 2024

you're not the only person mentioning that issue, but relatively few win 11 users report an issue.  

 

are you unable to install the cc desktop app or do you see adobe/non-adobe problems caused by its installation?

Participating Frequently
April 18, 2024

The issue we face are blue screens under Windows 11. I will try to describe the situation:

 

- If Memory Integrity was enabled before cc desktop app installation, you receive an error and installation stops.

 

- If you try to enable Memory Integrity manually after installation of cc desktop app, you will not be able to do so, because Windows recognizes said driver as incompatible. After reboot everything's fine.

 

- If you enable Memory Integrity via GPO, Windows doesn't care about incompatible drivers, it will be enabled anyways, resulting in a blue screen/stop error on all affected systems after reboot. That's what happened to us the first time ~ 40 devices.

 

To fix this, we had to either delete the RegKey to disable Memory Integrity or delete PxHlpa64.sys from drivers folder. Both had to be done from PE, meaning a huge time invest first for investigation and later actual hands on.

 

Now comes the biggest problem of all. Even though Memory Integrity is disabled via GPO, Windows 11 clients with cc desktop app installed will sporadically face blue screens/stop errors, that can be traced back to PxHlpa64.sys and Memory Integrity. My best guess, some part of Memory Integrity interferes/gets enabled for a second, after e.g. Windows Update reboot. This is really weird and hard to replicate.

 

My idea to prevent any errors, was to delete PxHlpa64.sys from all existing systems and integrating deletion right after installation of cc desktop app into our SCCM package. The question I could not answer yet, will PxHlpa64.sys be recreated under any circumstances, e.g. update of cc desktop app, installation of other Adobe apps?

 

Nevertheless, not everybody has these cababilities, so I suggest Adobe takes a shot at this?