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VMware Workstation/Credential Guard Incompatibility

If your Windows host system has Credential Guard enabled and you attempt to run VMware Workstation, there is an issue that may prevent you from using your VMware in class..

Upon running VMware Workstation, you may encounter a dialog such as below. You will not be able to start the application.

Credential Guard error message

To correct this, take the following steps.

Disabling Credential Guard for Class

  1. From your host operating system, Download the "Device Guard and Credential Guard hardware readiness tool" from Microsoft.

  2. Move the downloaded zip file to your desktop and extract the zip file to your Desktop.

    Zip file extraction

  3. Run PowerShell as Administrator.

    Run PowerShell as Administrator

  4. In the PowerShell window, change the directory to the folder where the script is extracted and run the following PowerShell commands. For example, in the command below, the zip file was extracted to the Desktop folder. You may need to reboot your host system for the changes to take effect.

    Note:

    The exact version might change over time. In this example, the version is 3.6, but that might change if Microsoft updates the tool. If it does, in each command below, the folder path might change slightly based on the version number.

    Command lines

    cd ~\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6\
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

    Expected results

    PS C:\Users\sansforensics> cd ~\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6\
PS C:\Users\sansforensics\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6> Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
Execution Policy Change
...
Do you want to change the execution policy?
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "N"):

    Type A and press the Enter/Return key.

    Command lines

    .\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1 -Disable

    Expected results

    PS C:\Users\sansforensics\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6> .\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1 -Disable
Security Warning
...
Do you want to run C:\Users\<%YOUR_USERNAME%>\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1?
[D] Do not run  [R] Run once  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (Default is "D"):

    Type R and press the Enter/Return key.

    Expected results

    ...

###########################################################################
Readiness Tool Version 3.4 Release
Tool to check if your device is capable to run Device Guard and Credential Guard
###########################################################################
Disabling Device Guard and Credential Guard
Deleting RegKeys to disable DG/CG

...

Disabling Hyper-V and IOMMU
Disabling Hyper-V and IOMMU successful

Please reboot the machine, for settings to be applied.

    Reboot as directed and your system should be ready for use.

Re-enabling Credential Guard After Class

When class is over, if you no longer need to use VMware Workstation and/or require Credential Guard to be enabled, follow these steps.

  1. Run PowerShell as Administrator as shown above.

  2. Run the following commands. You may need to reboot your host system for the changes to take effect.

    Note:

    The exact version might change over time. In this example, the version is 3.6, but that might change if Microsoft updates the tool. If it does, in each command below, the folder path might change slightly based on the version number.

    Command lines

    cd ~\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6\
.\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1 -Enable -CG

    Expected results

    PS C:\Users\sansforensics> cd ~\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6\
PS C:\Users\sansforensics\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6> .\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1 -Enable -CG
Security warning
...
Do you want to run C:\Users\<%YOUR_USERNAME%>\Desktop\dgreadiness_v3.6\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1?
[D] Do not run  [R] Run once  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (Default is "D"):

    Type R and press the Enter/Return key.

    Expected results

    ###########################################################################
Readiness Tool Version 3.4 Release
Tool to check if your device is capable to run Device Guard and Credential Guard
###########################################################################
###########################################################################
OS and Hardware requirements for enabling Device Guard and Credential Guard
    1. OS SKUs: Available only on these OS Skus - Enterprise, Server, Education, Enterprise IoT, Pro, and Home
    2. Hardware: Recent hardware that supports virtualization extension with SLAT
To learn more, please visit: https://aka.ms/dgwhcr
###########################################################################

Enabling Device Guard and Credential Guard
Setting RegKeys to enable DG/CG
Enabling Hyper-V and IOMMU
Enabling Hyper-V and IOMMU successful
Please reboot the machine, for settings to be applied.

    Reboot as directed and your system should be ready for use.