Hardware Policy Driver (hwpolicy) Service Defaults in Windows 7
Contains Processor and other policies.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Boot |
| Display name: | Hardware Policy Driver |
| Service name: | hwpolicy |
| Service type: | kernel |
| Error control: | normal |
| 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 7 it is being loaded by Boot Loader before Kernel initialization. If Hardware Policy Driver fails to start, Windows 7 attempts to write the failure details into Event Log. Then Windows 7 startup should proceed and the user should be notified that the hwpolicy service is not running because of the error.
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 7 installation media.