⚠️ Disclaimer & Safety Warning

Before making any changes to your system, please read this carefully.

The steps in this guide involve modifying Windows security settings. While these changes are reversible, they reduce your system's protection against certain types of malware. All actions you take are entirely at your own risk. The author accepts no responsibility for any damage, data loss, or security incidents that may result from following this guide.

This guide is intended for dedicated gaming PCs only. If you use your PC for work, online banking, handling sensitive documents, or anything where security is a priority, do not disable these features.

Create a Restore Point First — Every Time

Before touching anything, spend 60 seconds creating a restore point. This gives you a one-click rollback if anything goes wrong.

1. Press the Windows key, type "Create a restore point", and press Enter
2. In the System Properties window, click the Create... button
3. Give it a descriptive name (e.g. "Before VBS disable") and click Create
4. Wait for the confirmation message, then click Close

If anything goes wrong after making changes, return to this window, click System Restore, and follow the prompts to roll back to this point.

What Is Virtualization-Based Security (VBS)?

Windows 11 and 12 ship with a feature called Virtualization-Based Security, or VBS, enabled by default. It uses hardware virtualisation to create an isolated memory region that protects sensitive system processes — things like credential storage and kernel code — from being tampered with by malware.

It sounds great, and for a general-purpose PC it genuinely is. The problem is that the same virtualisation layer that protects those processes also introduces measurable overhead into how your CPU handles workloads. For most office tasks you'll never notice it. For gaming — especially in CPU-intensive titles — it shows up clearly in frame rates and frame time consistency.

Memory Integrity (also called Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity, or HVCI) is a sub-feature of VBS. It verifies that all kernel-mode drivers are legitimate before allowing them to run, using the same isolated memory space. Same benefit, same overhead.

How Much Performance Are You Losing?

The impact varies depending on the game and your hardware, but CPU-bound titles take the biggest hit. Independently tested benchmarks have shown:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator: Up to 10–15% FPS improvement after disabling VBS
• Cyberpunk 2077: 5–7% average FPS gain
• Fortnite (high refresh rate): 5–7% gain — enough to push a near-144fps experience to a consistently smooth one
• GPU-bound games at 4K: Smaller gains, typically 2–5%

The gains are most noticeable in 1% lows (the worst-case frame times that cause visible stutters), not just average FPS. Even if your average framerate only improves by a few percent, a tighter, more consistent frame delivery makes the game feel noticeably smoother.

Should You Disable It?

Here's an honest summary of the trade-off:

Step 1: Check Whether VBS Is Currently Running

There's no point going through these steps if VBS isn't active on your system — some OEM builds and fresh installs on older hardware have it disabled already.

1. Press Windows + R, type msinfo32, and press Enter
2. In the System Summary, scroll down and look for the line "Virtualization-based security"
3. If it says "Running" — you're losing performance right now and this guide applies to you
4. If it says "Not enabled" — VBS is already off and no action is needed

Step 2: Disable Memory Integrity

Memory Integrity is the quickest to disable and is the first thing to turn off.

1. Open Windows Security (search for it in the Start Menu)
2. Click Device Security
3. Click Core isolation details
4. Toggle Memory integrity to Off
5. You'll be prompted to restart — don't restart yet, continue to Step 3 first

Step 3: Disable VBS Fully via Windows Features

Turning off Memory Integrity reduces the impact but doesn't fully disable the VBS stack. For maximum effect:

1. Press Windows + R, type optionalfeatures, and press Enter
2. Scroll down and uncheck the following if they are enabled:
   • Virtual Machine Platform
   • Windows Hypervisor Platform
   • Windows Sandbox
3. Click OK and let Windows apply the changes

Note: If you use WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) or run virtual machines with Hyper-V, removing these features will break those tools. Only proceed if you don't rely on them.

Step 4: Restart and Verify

1. Restart your PC
2. After rebooting, press Windows + R, type msinfo32, and press Enter again
3. Check that "Virtualization-based security" now says "Not enabled"

If it still says "Running," check that Secure Boot hasn't automatically re-enabled it, and revisit Step 3. Some systems — particularly those with Secured-Core PC certification — may resist this change.

How to Re-enable VBS (Reversing the Change)

If you want to restore VBS at any time:

1. Open Windows Security → Device Security → Core isolation details
2. Toggle Memory integrity back On
3. Re-enable any Windows Optional Features you removed in Step 3
4. Restart your PC

The change is fully reversible with no lasting system damage.

What to Expect

Run a benchmark before and after — something like 3DMark, or simply use an in-game performance overlay (NVIDIA GeForce Experience and AMD Adrenalin both include one). You should see improvements in:

• Average FPS in CPU-intensive games
• 1% low frametime — less stuttering and hitching
• Frame time consistency — smoother overall experience at high refresh rates

For competitive gaming at 144Hz or higher, this is one of the most impactful single changes you can make to your Windows installation.

Summary

Time required: ~10 minutes including the restart.

Always benchmark before and after each change so you can measure the real-world impact on your specific hardware. Results vary by CPU, GPU, and the games you play.