Blue Screen of Death references PGP File Share Encryption's PGPfsfd driver (Symantec Encryption Desktop)
Article ID: 176468
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
There may be rare events in which Windows generates a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death). Analysis may show the Windows Dump file with the Windows Debugger shows referencing to PGPfsfd in the STACK_TEXT section.
Environment
Symantec Encryption Desktop 10.5.1 and above using File Share encryption.
Cause
PGPfsfd refers to the pgpfsfd.sys driver which is used by the File Share Encryption application. This driver is typically always loaded by Windows even if File Share encryption is disabled in the PGP Server (Symantec Encryption Management Server) via consumer policy.
Resolution
Although the dump may reference this driver, it does not mean the direct cause is File Share Encryption and more information would be needed.
If you do not use File Share Encryption and want to rule this out, you can disable the functionality on your system as a workaround:
To workaround this issue, disable File Share by preventing the pgpfsfd.sys driver being loaded by Windows. Add the AutorunsDisabled registry key by running the following command with local administrator rights:
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pgpfs" /v AutorunsDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0
To enable the pgpfsfd.sys driver, delete the AutorunsDisabled registry key by running the following command with local administrator rights:
reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pgpfs" /v AutorunsDisabled
If you are not using File Share encryption, you can prevent the pgpfsfd.sys driver from loading by installing Encryption Desktop with msiexec and using the PGP_INSTALL_NETSHARE=0 switch.
For more information on installing PGP Desktop with limited components enabled, see the following article:
171110 - Disabling PGP Desktop functionality using msiexec switches (Symantec Encryption Desktop)
Additional Information
EPG-30120
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