[g051051]

Fun fact: Ryzen Master needs a kernel driver installed in order to function. This driver was signed with a cert that expired a while back. For years they required you to disable virtualization based security (because as a side effect it would also disable driver signature enforcement). When this first popped up, rather the fix the signature, they added a check to detect VBS and block starting if it's enabled. Then Microsoft made VBS and DSE separate settings, so now it gives a misleading error message. There was a patcher program that would workaround the issue, but it doesn't work for the most recent versions, unfortunately.

[wtallis]

I've never run into that issue with Ryzen Master, but only because using Intel's overclocking tools had already trained me to disable virtualization-based security. Intel's tools also had issues with that feature, and it took them a surprisingly long time to update their error messages to explain what was preventing XTU from running.

Aside from any driver signing issues, I think there's also an underlying common issue that the virtualization layer needs to pass through the CPU model-specific registers (MSRs) that are the hardware interface for tweaking power and clock limits.

[mastax]

Wait, seriously? That’s the cause? Why don’t they just get a new certificate?

[g051051]

I went round and round with AMD support between December 2022 and April 2023, explaining exactly where the issue was, sending the event logs showing the driver was being blocked because of the signature, sent screenshots of the certificates showing the expired dates, etc. I kept getting sent to random articles, told to do useless steps, the usual stuff you get from "technical" "support" nowadays. Eventually they acknowledged the problem, and said that it would be fixed in an upcoming update:

> I've now looked into this and we are already aware of this issue and have an engineering ticket logged against it.

> It is only affecting the older Ryzen and Threadripper parts and it occurred since Ryzen Master Tool (RMT) received a significant update to improve the look and feel of the application.

> We do have a fix planned that will be incorporated into a future release build of Ryzen Master Tool, however I don't have a specific date of when that build will become public for you to download.

> The initial estimate is mid July, however this could change. My recommendation is to periodically check our website for the Ryzen Master Tool release notes as the issue will be documented as a fixed issue when the build becomes publicly available.

I check regularly, and I haven't seen a new version released that mentioned this. Plus, never versions don't work with the VBS bypass hack I was using.

And here's the email that finally got them to even admit it was a problem:

> Again, I'm frustrated. I've clearly explained over and over that the VBS setting doesn't affect this problem. So having you come back and say "this is expected behavior" is infuriating. You insisted I send my system info, which clearly showed VBS is off.

> I say again: even with VBS disabled, the driver won't load unless you ALSO disable the driver blocklist. And once again, forcing users to bypass important security features is borderline negligence, when this could easily be solved by getting the driver signed correctly.

> The true culprit is the expired/revoked signature on the driver. You can see this in the event log (as I included in my last message) showing the driver being rejected from loading into Windows because of the failed signature. The purpose of the VBS check is clearly because this used to cause the driver blocklist to be enabled, so disabling VBS also disabled the driver blocklist. THIS IS NO LONGER TRUE. Recent Windows updates have made the blocklist enabled by default, so that the only way to run Ryzen Master on affected systems is to disable both VBS (to get through the check) and disable the driver blocklist (to allow the driver to load).

[AzzyHN]

Certificates don't grow on trees y'know /s

[iknowstuff]

Stay away from AMD software, noted.