Thanks to the Game Haptics Router (GHR) looking like malware, Windows has a variety of things it will do to installs in order to disable them. This thread will cover how to undo those things without also making your computer any less secure.
If you are having problems with the GHR not starting/crashing/etc, comment in this thread.
Why the GHR looks like malware
The GHR uses a system known as “process hooking” for injecting functionality into games to reroute rumble commands. This saves GHR users having to copy files around their system and hope that DLL injectors work.
That said, process hooking is also a popular mechanism for malware to do bad things to processes, so Windows has thrown the baby out with the bathwater and said that anything that hooks will probably get caused by security systems.
The GHR is a binary signed by Nonpolynomial, which at this point should be a trusted certificate, but even with that, Windows isn’t real thrilled about it. So this is a list of what can go wrong and how to fix it.
This may be thread necro, but a Win 10 update at some point in the last month (early 2024) neutered GHR (unable to find processes, crash when trying to refresh, log error about it that I forgot to write down).
Working Solution:
All Windows Defender functions in Virus and Threat Protection turned off before downloading GHR, and must remain off until GHR is installed and added to the exceptions list. (added whole folder as exception)
It may also be necessary to add GHR (and individual exes that come with it) to exceptions under App and Browser control.
Some of that may be overkill, but any attempt I made to only do part of it resulted in the application being neutered by Windows, and having to uninstall it, redownload it, and reinstall it.
Perhaps the update is why the installer was fine, and then a few days later the app stopped working, and then a few days later the installer was quarantined!
I believe the installer can be found in the Windows Security quarantine and can be Restored from there, which should keep it long enough to be installed from.
And then the installation folder can be added to the Exclusions list:
