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igfxem module denies access to my folders

idata
Employee
20,353 Views

Attached is the status of the drivers for my Intel HD Graphic 530, all up to date using Intel Driver Update Utility 2.6. Plus, a Speccy text of my laptop.

So this started happening recently, even after reinstalling Windows 10.

I am logged in as the administrator, and I couldn't even delete it even when logged into elevated administrator account. Tried Command Prompt "takeown" and changed owner ship of the folder to no avail.

Guess what, igfxEM is handling this folder. To be clear, this is a folder for a Steam game installed outside of C:\ to evade UAC while playing. Yet, igfxEM is somehow handling almost ALL of the folders in this D:\ drive.

And when I ended the process tree...

The folder just DISAPPEARED, and then I could rename, copy, move, any folders in the D:\ drive (not all folders in D:\ are handled by the module, but a vast majority is).

My questions are:

-How can I fix this? This hadn't happened before during the entire year I own this laptop, until I used CCleaner to "clean" my registry. REGRET.

-And is it important? Can I just remove it?

Thanks for reading and appreciate any help.

47 Replies
idata
Employee
9,320 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

In regard to your concern, I would like to complete a deeper research. So then, I would like to confirm the model of your computer?

 

 

Once that you reply I will provide you with further details.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Angie
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idata
Employee
9,320 Views

Hi,

Thanks for replying. It's an MSI GE 62QD Apache Pro gaming laptop with no hardware changes

Sincerely,

Dave

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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

 

After an extensive research I was able to confirm some details for you:

 

 

- In regard to "igfxEM ", please do not remove it; due that it is a signature from Intel to prevent that some of the drivers could be modified by unauthorized sources (to avoid any harm to the software drivers provided by Intel).

 

 

-And about the folder that you would like to remove; my recommendation it is not to do it. Due to, sometimes these folders are created to save temporary files by the application that it is related to it.

 

 

-Also if you would like to know more about this folder, the best thing to do it is to contact the support for the application that has created that folder (https://help.steampowered.com/en/ Steam Support).

 

 

Do not hesitate to reply for any further concern.

 

 

Regards,

 

Angie
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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hi Angie,

Thanks for taking the time to research my problem. I have done some searching of my own, too and the only way I could find to prevent this Intel Module from controlling the folders of my Steam application is to set it to Manual (go to "Services", and set "Intel HD Graphics Control Panel Services" to Manual (Triggered Start)).

I want to reclarify my problem is that, the Steam application and its games can't functions normally because it can't access and utilize the files and folders that it created upon installation. The Intel Module is handling those files and folders for whatever reasons. For example, I was trying to update a game though Steam but it wouldn't Start whenever I clicked on the update button. Turns out, it said it's missing some registry that onlt after I'd detected this Intel Module was running and turned it off, Steam could update the game.

The folder I was trying to delete in the screenshots was just to demo my problem (no harm done to the Steam application or the system itself).

It is strange that the module is trying to handling folders and files of another application, on a separate drive.

Is there any workaround?

Dave

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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

 

At this moment, please proceed with a manual reinstall of the latest graphic driver.

 

 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005598.html Uninstalling the Intel® Graphics Driver and Intel® Display HDMI/Audio Driver

 

 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005629.html Manually Install an Intel® Graphics Driver http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005629.html inhttp://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005629.html Windows® 10 and Windows 8*/8.1*

 

 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26404/Intel-Graphics-Driver-15-45-?product=88345 Intel® Graphics Driver [15.45] Version: 15.45.10.4542 (Latest) Date: 11/9/2016

 

 

If the issue persists after the reinstallation, please try to reinstall the Steam application.

 

 

Please let me know the results.

 

 

Regards,

 

Angie
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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hi,

After had been playing the games for a few hours, I checked the module's process and discovered it's regained control over the old folders. So I tried to delete the local contents of a game and there were still folders left, which I manually attempted to delete them but they denied my access.

Others things I've done:

  • SFC/ scannow (is there any chance SFC can be broken due to missing registry?). No missing registry.

Notes:

  • When I manually installed the latest driver:

...And ran the .exe, it still shows me this version of the graphic driver. Tried uninstalling and resintalling twice. Is this something to be concerned about?

I don't know what I can do to this point. But here's a list of Intel Software installed on my computer. Maybe there are conflicts?

...And list of Intel Services.

Strangely, igfxem.exe is associated with Intel(R) Common User Interface, which doesn't appear on this list of services (sort by name)

Can I just simply disable the module? This is the path: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\igdlh64.inf_amd64_f54a4c96d3261a9e\igfxEM.exe

Sincerely,

Dave

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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

All the details provided are really appreciated.

 

 

Since you were able to confirm after the uninstall of Steam you did not have any issue, I would like to confirm:

 

 

If it possible, try to remove the application and confirm if the file it is giving some issue without Steam?

 

 

Please let me know the outcome.

 

 

Regards,

 

Angie
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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

All the details provided are really appreciated.

 

 

Since you were able to confirm after the uninstall of Steam you did not have any issue, I would like to confirm:

 

 

If it possible, try to remove the application and confirm if the file it is giving some issue without Steam?

 

 

Please let me know the outcome.

 

 

Regards,

 

Angie
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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

To JWT: Thank you for sharing the URL from Steam Community.

 

 

To reissalvin: I have forwarded this to the corresponding department.

 

 

Once we have further information, it will be posted in this thread.

 

 

Regards,

 

Juan Carlos
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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

I would like to request the DxDiag report in order to continue working on this issue?

 

 

DxDiag Instructions:
  1. Click on the "Start Menu" -> Type "DxDiag" -> Press "Enter" -> Wait for the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to finish loading
  2. In the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, click "Save All Information" -> Save the file
  3. DxDiag.txtInclude DxDiag.txt as an attachment in the Intel Community Forum

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

 

 

Regards,

 

Juan Carlos
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idata
Employee
9,319 Views

Here ya go. Attached is the diagnosis.

Update, it seems after uninstalling Steam, all of my games, the default driver on my laptop, and the Update Utility and then reinstalling the Update Utility, pulled out and installed driver 20.19.15.4501 (driver date: 8/11/2016) from my back-up hard-drive (way before I had this problem), and then Steam and then the games; everything worked so far. However, I haven't tried playing the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and installed any mods (THAT WAS WHEN I noticed I could not completely all the files of mods and started this thread).

igfxem is still running and doing its job and it's not handling any files or folders from Steam

And when I searched for "steam" handles, they were handled by Steam.

In conclusion, all I did was uninstalled everything and downgraded my driver. I saw the earlier reply says the problem persist in newer driver?

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idata
Employee
9,320 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

Thank you for the update.

 

 

I have passed this information to the corresponding team.

 

 

Once we have updates, the information will be posted in this thread.

 

 

Regards,

 

Juan Carlos
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idata
Employee
9,320 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

I would like to inform you that a new driver was released:

 

 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26563/Graphics-Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-15-45-?product=88345 Intel® Graphics Driver for Windows* [15.45] Version: 15.45.14.4590

 

 

Please try installing this version and let me know how it goes.

 

 

Regards,

 

Juan Carlos
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idata
Employee
8,092 Views

i'd like to upvote the original complaint in this thread, issue still exists (with .4590 driver too).

i too couldnt delete some folders in my steam games installations despite being folders owner, having full control.

turned out igfxem.exe was locking all those folders. killing the process solved the problem.

i have 6700k, z170 mobo, win10 x64, use nvidia maxwell card for all the gaming,

why on earth is intel iGPU process locking game folders, on a system that uses nvidia dGPU for gaming?

pls solve the problem!

in the meantime would be good to hear of at least some temporary workaround, how to disable igfxem.exe from auto-running.

thank you!

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idata
Employee
9,320 Views

Hi,

The re-installation of Steam did it. I think it relates to Steam's registry because when I tried to uninstall it, the path to the location where Steam needed to know in order to uninstall was blank and I couldn't edit it. On their uninstalltion page, the uninstalltion process cannot be completed by deleting the Steam folder alone but also the registries (which CCleaner might have deleted). I reinstalled Windows 10 after the problem arised but awkwardly, Steam was the only software that wasn't uninstalled in the process! So there's definitely something wrong with Steam after the registry cleaning.

So that did it. I've reinstalled all of my games and ran it smoothly, checked the module process and it's not handling the Steam folders anymore. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Dave

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idata
Employee
9,320 Views

Hello reissalvin,

 

 

I was reviewing this thread and I was wondering if the suggestion provided by Belliou worked for you.

 

 

Please don't hesitate in replying to this post if you need additional help.

 

 

Regards,

 

Juan Carlos
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GG__A
Beginner
9,320 Views

Gretings reissalvin,

I had the same problem as you on my notebook - CLEVO N170RD1 with a gtx 960m and intel hd graphics 530.

Found a simply solution and just registered to tell you and whoever else needs it, just downgrade the driver to a older one,

In my case the current driver version is 20.19.15.4404.

Hope it helps and works for you in case you still need it.

Any typo or spelling error I apologise since english isn't my mother tongue.

Best Wishes,

Belliou

Allan_J_Intel1
Employee
9,320 Views

Thank you for sharing this information, I hope this will help other peers.

 

Allan.
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CIsin
Beginner
9,320 Views

Hello,

I have registered just to report that I have the same problem.

While modding a game, I experienced problems while deleting some folders. After some investigation, I found out that igfxem.exe holds handles to seemingly every single folder in every single one of my games. This is rather strange.

I am now trying to update my intel graphics driver to see if it will fix the problem. I will post the results.

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JThom40
Beginner
9,320 Views

I just wanted to update this post to say that, using the current 2/3/2017 driver (21.20.16.4590), this issue still exists. This computer has a Skylake i7-6600U, Intel 520 Graphics, running Windows 10, x86-64, version 14393. The igfxEM.exe process immediately takes handles on my Steam directory, making Steam nearly unusable since it cannot write or modify any of the game content for updates, etc. Killing the igfxEM process releases the handles, and seems to be the only way to use the current driver with Steam.

Steam isn't running in the above capture, so igfxEM is the only process taking handles. The 1136 handles above constitute my entire %programfiles(x86)%\Steam directory, basically.

This issue is also referenced on the Steam forums as: https://steamcommunity.com/app/264710/discussions/3/135508031952199400/ Unauthorized access issue caused by igfxEM.exe :: Subnautica Bugs, Crashes, & Other Horror

Thanks for reading, hopefully this issue can be resolved.

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