Vista: Disable DEP or NoExecute Protection to fix Explorer Crashing

Contributor Icon Contributed by Hack_Vista Date Icon March 12, 2006  
Tag Icon Tagged: Microsoft Vista

Some explorer crashes, especially in the early builds of vista, are due to DEP violations. Turn it off and see if it helps.


DEP or NoExecute Protection will be a vital part of vista security. During these early builds, however, it can lead to many explorer crashes.

If you are getting a lot of explorer crashes, disable it and see if it helps.

Disable DEP in Vista:

1. Click Start
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Accessories
4. Right Click on Command Prompt
5. Left click on Run as Administrator
6. Click the Allow button if it asks you for permission
7. Type or copy and paste this into the command prompt window:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

8. Hit enter and you should see the confirmation: Operation Completed Successfully
9. Reboot and DEP should be off.

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  • Anonymous
    I have tried to disable DEP a few times but when I enter the command it says "The boot configuration data store could not be opened , Access denied" Help Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • laree
    mine said the same thing
  • help?
    so how do I re-enable this? change it to alwayson?
  • orion
    remember, first open the command prompt by "run as admin". then type in bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx optin
  • mounika
    What does this command do then "bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx optin"

    Am I setting my DEP on again
  • Daniel
    Is DEP the confirmation thing? if so it doesnt work, i cant get my damn homeworld 2 to work no nmatter what i do D:
  • Anonymous
    Pro-Tip: Doesn't work with SP1
  • michael65784
    Doesn't work with Service Pack 1?? THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, I couldnt figure out why this wouldn't work.
  • stefano
    vistax64 with intel processors, cannot disable DEP and trust me I have used every hack I could find on the net I need suggestions plz
  • Stevo
    I have Vistax64 home premium and intel core 2 duo and dep does work as i can now play homeworld 2
  • rainbowwwarrior
    yeahhhhhhhh - it works ;o))))

    thx a lot !
  • Abul
    {WORKING FIX}

    tried everything..... Mines fixed now, sympathys to all whose isnt .... My advice.. boot in safe mode, search for "system restore" choose a point taht it 1 week + from when it started to skrew up....and hopfully your as lucky as i was...and it fixes it. Good LUCK@!@!@$#$@$
  • Gerd
    It does not work, my TurboCad prof 10.2 still does not work
  • jojo
    DEP doesn't work at all
  • Mark
    It's about time MS runs you all over the place, took another to help get rid of there IE 8 Beta
    Thanks you really helped me out
    Mark
  • Trevor Wainwright
    I've DEP shutting down my spooler so that the printer does not work. I no longer get the message on start up but the spooler is always off. This in XP though. What has suddenly started this? I cannot get the spooler to start manually either. Bit of a drag as you can usually print your help before starting the fix, I have to write everything down!
  • SRINIVAS
    thnks u r awesome i was trying to solve this problem for so long days finally i got it solved
    yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
  • Jamaico Tan
    hi i really have problems on this one and i follow what you said already but it says there that bcedit.exe is not recognized as an internal or external command

    please help me on this

    it would really be a pleasure iof you can help me
  • m
    bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

    make sure its B C D edit

    cheers
  • Pla
    Yeah. It works but be sure you run command prompt as admin.
  • XXXXX
    /////I have tried to disable DEP a few times but when I enter the command it says "The boot configuration data store could not be opened , Access denied" Help Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/////

    same problem here.....
  • MoronCorrecter
    You didn't run it as admin, try again and follow directions better.
  • Adnan
    Not very useful. I did it but to no avail: caused more trouble. I reinstalled avgfree and ran a disc check on C drive which solved my problem.
  • ef
    hmm "no bcedit found"
  • orion
    you missed the "d". its bcdedit.exe
  • craig
    i know this might be an easy fix but i turned off DEP because it was blocking a program and the DEP is still stopping it from running. any ideas?
  • joeh
    I had same problem with Vista Home running IE8. I disabled Google Toolbar add-ons and all is OK now. (Right click Internet explorer, select start IE without Add-Ons - if this works you can then go to Manage Add-Ons and disable individual ones. I disabled the most recently intalled ones and by a process of elimination discovered that it was Google Toolbar and Google Findbar which were the cause of the problem)
  • Ali
    i did that but nothing happened !!!!!
  • MASF
    Thank you it worked perfectly. God bles your soul. :)
  • Zoey
    I typed in the command in the command prompt and it disabled DEP but the program it kept blocking still doesn't work. Do you know what I can do to get the program working?
  • to reverse this do the same as above but type : bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx OptIn into the command window
  • Jeff
    When I run the command i get:

    "The boot configuration could not be opened. The maximum number of secrets that may be stored in a single system has been exceeded."

    Any ideas on that?
  • C
    Thanx!!! Back up and running! Can get the job done now. I want to leave this off, What problems would I encounter,If any?
  • Robert
    Thanks! This actually accomplished my intended task. The other 30 articles I read on this subject were complete crap. Again, thanks.
  • ???
    this does not work for me.
    I always end up getting, access denied.
    Can someone please help?!
  • michael65784
    Install SP2 and it should work.
  • naxtor
    it works fine
  • as_if1992
    how do i turn it on again?
  • billscull
    I disabled DEP as you described with bcdedit.exe command line entry. The problem was not solved and I cannot restart DEP with bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOn. So, now I sttil have the problem and no DEP support. What now?
  • jamessuperfun
    DEP is a bit of security from windows (thhat i find annoying because it closes all my fav apps all the time, i do have to restart app after diabling for program) that closes programs using to much memory, or something. When a program does something windows doesn't like, DEP(data execution prevention) closes it.
  • mounika
    Hiii,I did as it is and now it is working perfectly.But am shutting down by DEP for all the essential Windows programs....
    Please let me know
  • rhre;pf
    right click the command prompt as admin right click>drop bar>open as admin then continue the process
  • Frankie
    Turning it off still diddnt work, Im trying to play halo 2 and data execution keeps comming up when i start the game, i called microsoft and they diddnt help cause my warranty ran out, i checked other trobleshooting steps like running the game as admin. or chaging the compatibilty to xp sp2, but halo2 is for vista
    i have a home built comp
    it has vista premiun 32bit
    dont remember wat the m/b is i know its an ecs
    umm it has a intel core i5 2.66ghz quad
    and corsair xms3 4gb ddr3 memory
    320gb samsung hdd
    his radeon hd 4670 1gbddr3 videocard
    idk wat the problem is but it only does this to vista games like halo2 shadowrun gears of war crysis warhead, crysis works fine
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