Windows memory integrity switches on automatically for eligible devices in October 2026
Beginning in October 2026, Windows quality updates start enabling memory integrity protection on eligible devices with little or no additional configuration. On machines where Virtualization-based Security is not already running, those same updates enable VBS too.
Memory integrity is the layer that allows only trusted kernel-mode code and drivers to run, which is how it stops an attacker who is trying to compromise the Windows kernel and take control of core operating system functions.
The change arrives as a patch, so the security posture of a fleet can move between one update cycle and the next without anyone filing a change request.
“Existing administrator and user decisions and policies remain in effect. This means that devices where memory integrity has already been disabled won’t be automatically changed by this rollout. If memory integrity is not enabled by default, users and organizations can still review, configure, and enable it using existing Windows security and management tools,” Peter Waxman, Group Program Manager at Microsoft, said.
Windows checks readiness first
Before enabling the protection, Windows evaluates whether a device is ready. The signals are hardware capabilities, compatibility, and performance considerations. That evaluation is why the rollout covers only eligible devices, and it is doing the work a driver inventory would otherwise do for you.
Microsoft does not claim the check catches every incompatible kernel driver in an environment, so if you run anything unusual at kernel level, the safe assumption is that you still own that problem.
There is a second reason to care beyond blocking rootkits. Memory integrity underpins hotpatch updates, the ones that install without a reboot, so a device that stays unprotected is also cut off from the servicing model built on top of it.
Devices the rollout skips can still be brought in by hand. Users and organizations can review, configure, and enable memory integrity with the Windows security and management tools they already have.
