Since Windows Vista, Microsoft requires kernel-mode drivers to be digitally signed by a trusted authority. While AccessData does sign their drivers, sometimes:
Older versions (before 4.3.0) have known driver issues on Windows 10 20H2 and later. AccessData/Exterro has released updated signatures.
Steps:
If running as admin fails, Windows is likely blocking the driver’s signature. For a one-time boot that disables signature enforcement:
For Windows 10/11:
Warning: Do not browse the web or run untrusted software during this session; disabled signature enforcement reduces security.
If the installed version continues to fail, the portable version of FTK Imager is often more resilient because it attempts to load the driver from the same directory rather than the system driver store.
To fix this problem, you must first understand what FTK Imager is trying to do.
Unlike standard file copy tools, FTK Imager needs direct access to disk volumes at the physical level. To read a hard drive byte-for-byte (including unallocated space, slack space, and partitions), Windows user-mode applications are too restricted. Therefore, FTK Imager relies on a kernel-mode driver. ftk imager could not start driver new
Specifically, FTK Imager uses a driver (often named EWF.sys or a variant related to the MountMgr or raw disk access) to:
When the error says "Could not start driver new," it means FTK Imager attempted to install or start this kernel driver on your system, and Windows either blocked the operation or the driver failed to initialize.
Some users report that the error points explicitly to "driver new" rather than a named driver like ewf. This often indicates that FTK Imager is failing to call the StartService Windows API for a driver it just dynamically generated.
In this specific scenario, the issue frequently relates to Temp folder permissions. FTK Imager writes a temporary .sys file to %TEMP%\FTK Imager\. If that folder is compressed, encrypted, or located on a network drive, the driver cannot start. Warning: Do not browse the web or run
Fix:
This is the most overlooked fix. Even if you are logged in as an admin, Windows runs applications with standard privileges by default.
If the application launches, you are done. To avoid repeating this step, go to Properties > Compatibility > Check "Run this program as an administrator."
A: This likely distinguishes the newer 64-bit, digitally-signed driver from the legacy 32-bit driver used in ancient versions (e.g., FTK Imager 2.x). The "(new)" driver uses updated kernel APIs. To fix this problem, you must first understand