Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (SP2) include the Driver Protection feature. This feature helps protect operating system stability by preventing the operating system from loading drivers that are known to cause stability problems. Driver Protection is built upon application compatibility technology that is present in Windows XP. Driver Protection is active at all times. The feature is available during operating system upgrades from prior versions of Windows and at runtime after the operating system is installed. Driver Protection is not intended to be disabled by end users.

Drivers that are known to cause stability problems are listed in the Driver Protection List database that is included with Windows XP. Driver Protection checks this database to determine whether to load a driver in Windows XP.

The following device drivers are known to cause instability in Windows XP SP2 and have been added to the Windows XP Driver Protection List:

Application/Driver	Vendor	Driver Binary	Match Criteria
Security Services and AV Driver	Command Software	CSS-DVP.SYS	Product Version: 4.90.4.40123 and
			Link Date: 01/23/2004 16:08:00
SMSC LPC Memory Stick Host Controller	Sony	Smscms.sys	Link Date: 09/02/2003 19:07:48
Windows CE Emulator	Microsoft	VPCAppSv.sys	Product Version: 6.13.10.2149 and system is running in PAE or NX mode
Virtual PC	Connectix	VPCAppSv.sys	Product Version: 4.x and system is running in PAE or NX mode

For more information about the Driver Protection feature in Windows XP and to view existing drivers on the Driver Protection list, visit the following Microsoft Web site: