Canonical Display Driver (CDD) Service Defaults in Windows 11

Provides legacy GDI support for the video driver stack.

The Canonical Display Driver service exists only in:

Default Settings

Startup type: Manual
Display name:Canonical Display Driver
Service name:CDD
Service type:kernel
Error control:ignore
Group:Video Init
Path:%SystemRoot%\System32\cdd.dll
Registry key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CDD

Default Behavior

Canonical Display Driver is a kernel driver. In Windows 11 it starts only if the user, an application or another service starts it. If Canonical Display Driver fails to load or initialize, Windows 11 is starting up without warnings, however the error details are being logged.

Restore Default Startup Configuration of Canonical Display Driver

1. Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.

2. Copy the command below, paste it into the command window and press ENTER:

sc config CDD start= demand

3. Close the command window and restart the computer.

The CDD service is using the cdd.dll file that is located in the C:\Windows\System32 directory. If the file is removed or corrupted, read this article to restore its original version from Windows 11 installation media.