Hardware Policy Driver (hwpolicy) Service Defaults in Windows 10
Contains Processor and other policies.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Boot |
| Display name: | Hardware Policy Driver |
| Service name: | hwpolicy |
| Service type: | kernel |
| Error control: | ignore |
| Path: | %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\hwpolicy.sys |
| Registry key: | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\hwpolicy |
Default Behavior
Hardware Policy Driver is a kernel device driver. In Windows 10 it is starting by the operating system Boot Loader as a part of the driver stack for the boot volume. If Hardware Policy Driver fails to load or initialize, Windows 10 start up proceeds without warnings. However the error details are being logged.
Restore Default Startup Configuration of Hardware Policy Driver
1. Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Copy the commands below, paste them into the command window and press ENTER:
sc config hwpolicy start= boot
sc start hwpolicy
3. Close the command window and restart the computer.
The hwpolicy service is using the hwpolicy.sys file that is located in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory. If the file is removed or corrupted, read this article to restore its original version from Windows 10 installation media.