Windows Core Isolation Flags vJoy as Incompatible: What It Means

If Windows lists vjoy.sys on its Core Isolation incompatible-drivers screen, it is natural to want a straight answer: is vJoy incompatible with Memory Integrity, and what should you do? This page gives you the honest version. There is no authoritative vJoy-specific source that establishes this interaction for every build and every system, so everything below is written conditionally — about what it means if Windows shows this on your machine, and the order of steps that keeps you safe and honest.

What you are seeing, conditionally

Core Isolation, and its Memory Integrity feature, is a Windows security layer. Windows maintains a list of drivers it considers incompatible with that layer, and if Windows lists vjoy.sys in the incompatible-drivers screen on your PC, Windows is telling you that, in its current state, it will not run that driver together with Memory Integrity. That statement is about the specific driver file and version present on your machine. It is not, by itself, proof about every vJoy build on every PC, and this site will not upgrade a conditional on-screen message into a universal claim about vJoy.

What this page will not tell you to do

We do not instruct turning off Memory Integrity as the fix, and you should be suspicious of any guide that presents disabling a Windows security feature as step one for a joystick driver. Turning it off is a security trade-off affecting the whole system, not a vJoy setting, and making that trade-off casually — before trying a correctly signed, current build installed cleanly — puts the cost first and the likely fix second. If, after informed consideration, a reader chooses that trade-off for their own machine, that is their decision to make with full knowledge of what Memory Integrity does. It is not a step this guide prescribes.

Step 1: try the signed 2.2.2.0 build first

Driver signing is directly relevant here, and signing is where the vJoy builds differ most. The original 2.1.9.1 build is attestation-signed for Windows 10. The BrunnerInnovation 2.2.2.0 build is signed with an EV certificate with attestation signing via the Microsoft Partner program, and explicitly states that it works on Windows 10 and Windows 11. If Windows lists vjoy.sys as incompatible while an older build is installed, the first documented move is to move to the current signed build: uninstall the old build fully, reboot, install 2.2.2.0 alone from a verified download — the installer is 5,302,312 bytes with SHA-256 ef569a3105cd301b89580f18f60c66b339e95296acf2c0dfcaf4b4bbf8ab68fe — reboot again, and then check whether Windows still lists vjoy.sys. On a meaningful share of machines, the listing was about the old driver file, and it clears with the current one.

Step 2: make sure the install is actually clean

A leftover driver file can keep a listing alive after the build swap. Only one vjoy.sys can run, and mixed files from different releases are a documented source of vJoy failures. If the incompatible-driver listing persists after installing 2.2.2.0, do the full documented cleanup before drawing conclusions: uninstall all vJoy entries, inspect the driver store with pnputil -e for Shaul or vJoy OEM INF entries, remove only those vJoy entries with pnputil -f -d oemXX.inf, reboot, and install 2.2.2.0 once more on the clean base. Our complete uninstall guide and conflicting-installs guide detail this procedure. Then check the Core Isolation screen again. A listing that survives a verified clean install of the current signed build is real information about your system; a listing from a mixed install is not.

Understanding the trade-off honestly

If you reach the point where Windows still lists vjoy.sys after a clean install of the signed current build, you face a genuine choice, and it deserves plain language. Keeping Memory Integrity on means accepting that Windows may refuse this driver on your machine. Turning it off means running your whole system without that protection layer so one driver can load. Neither this site nor a forum post can weigh that for you, because the right answer depends on what else the machine does and what you use it for. What we can say is what not to do: do not disable Secure Boot as a casual first step, do not follow instructions that have you deleting driver files from system folders, and do not treat a security change as a routine install step. Those shortcuts trade system integrity for convenience and are not supported by any authoritative vJoy source.

How to confirm your state

  1. Open the Core Isolation incompatible-drivers screen again after the clean 2.2.2.0 install and note whether vjoy.sys is still listed.
  2. If it is gone, confirm in joy.cpl that a vJoy Device is present and that a feeder moves its axes — the driver is loading alongside your security settings, which is the best outcome.
  3. If it is still listed, record your Windows version, the exact vjoy.sys listing text, and the build installed. That record is what a maintainer or support forum needs, and it keeps any further decision factual rather than guess-based.

Conditionally flagged drivers are unsettling, but the disciplined response is short: current signed build, clean install, recheck. Only after those steps should anyone weigh larger security trade-offs — knowingly, and as a last resort rather than a first step.

Related guides

vJoy is an unofficially documented tool on this site. vJoy itself was created by Shaul Eizikovich, with later signed forks by other maintainers. This site is not the official vJoy project site.

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