Windows 10 May 2020 Update is blocked by this security feature – here’s how to fix it

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Windows 10 May 2020 Update has been released by Microsoft, bang on the date that the rumor mill predicted, but some users are receiving a message that the upgrade is blocked due to a security setting.

As ever, the May 2020 Update is being rolled out in stages, but if your PC is one of the initial machines to be offered the upgrade, you could find that the operating system’s security settings are interfering with the installation.

As Windows Latest reports, there is a compatibility issue with the new update and Windows Security settings, and if you’re one of those suffering from this particular gremlin, you will see receive a message informing you that the May 2020 Update can’t be installed until you ‘turn off memory integrity protection’.

That’s a security feature which is designed to protect kernel mode processes from the insertion of malicious code and subsequent exploitation. If you’re happy to do without that protection, here’s how you can turn it off and get the May 2020 Update:

  • Click the Start menu and then the Settings cog
  • Click on ‘Update & Security’
  • Click on ‘Windows Security’ in the left-side panel
  • Click on ‘Device Security’ (under the Protection Areas list)
  • Click on ‘Core isolation details’
  • Under the Memory Integrity heading, click on the slider to turn it off
  • Reboot your PC

Note that your PC may not have any device security measures listed, and that part of the Settings menu will simply say that ‘standard hardware security’ is not supported in this case. But obviously you won’t have any problems with memory integrity protection if that’s the case.

Driver fix

If you’d prefer not to turn off memory integrity protection, there’s another possible route forward, and that’s updating your graphics driver, according to the report by Windows Latest.

Furthermore, if you do switch off memory integrity protection but are still blocked from installing the May 2020 Update, you may also want to make sure that your graphics driver and Intel Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers are fully up to date.

Microsoft will hopefully be working on a full fix for this bugbear so that PCs using memory integrity protection can receive the May 2020 Update, and fingers crossed that before long – perhaps even before the update is offered to your machine – you won’t have to jump through any hoops to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).