I just got this frozen panel on Windows with the message: ""C:\WINDOWS\system32\SecureBootEncodeUEFI.exe" Not Responding"
What is this and what does it mean? Could it be a problem?
I recently installed fastboot and some adb thing that I don't quite understand because I was planning on installing a lineageos fork on my phone. Maybe that is something to do with it.
I got this on an old PC that does not support Secure Boot, but not on two PCs that do support Secure Boot (and have it enabled).
Is this issue only manifesting itself on PCs without Secure Boot support (or have it disabled)?
BTW, all PCs are running W10 22H2
I am noticing this behavior on Server 2019 starting in May 2023. The window appears multiple times throughout the day, but disappears so quickly that I can't see what program ran. My first instinct was to check for malware. My MalwareBytes scan came back clean.
I enabled the audit process tracking in my security policy, and when I saw the window flash I quickly went to Event Viewer and there I saw SecureBootEncodeUEFI.exe.
I am seeing SecureBootEncodeUEFI in the Task Scheduler configured the same way as reported earlier in this thread.
Can someone from Microsoft explain what this executable is doing and why it has started running multiple times a day?
Having issues getting Secure Boot / UEFI / GPT boot working right. Any ideas?
SecureBootEncodeUEFI.exe
c# - Programmatically determine if Windows 8 secure boot is enabled - Stack Overflow
securebootencodeuefi.exe randomly popped up in cmd.exe and closed
You need to set Platform in "User Mode", Secure Boot in "Standard Mode" and Load Setup Defaults.
You could do it by Restoring Factory Keys:
- BIOS - Security - Secure Boot - Restore Factory Keys - Enter
- BIOS - Restart - OS Optimized Defaults - Enabled
- BIOS - Restart - Load Setup Defaults - Enter
- Go to BIOS - Main and check if UEFI Secure Boot is ON.
You might be in Setup Mode because you have deleted the Platform Key in your BIOS. Enabling Secure Boot in this state enables your OS to write a new Platform Key (possibly useful for securing a Linux installation). But if you don't do that, you remain in Setup Mode and the Secure Boot State, indicating the Platform Key has been used to secure the system, will remain off.
Your BIOS might have an option to restore the default Platform Key, possibly called "Restore Default Secure Boot Keys", which restores the Microsoft Key. After doing that, your Secure Boot State will be On when booting Windows.
MSinfo32.exe read the value UEFISecureBootEnabled from the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot\State.

On my system SecureBoot is disabled and return value is 0. So I assume that 1 means enabled.
Good code for Windows 10 too of course and should handle most conditions including legacy or missing key and exception, as well the future.. Prints to console whilst also returning the flag for batch or script use:
using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;
namespace CheckSecureBoot
{
class Program
{
static int Main()
{
int rc = 0;
string key = @"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot\State";
string subkey = @"UEFISecureBootEnabled";
try
{
object value = Registry.GetValue(key, subkey, rc);
if (value != null)
rc = (int)value;
}
catch { }
Console.WriteLine($@"{subkey} is {(rc >= 1 ? "On" : "Off")} ({rc.ToString()})");
return rc;
}
}
}
this happened twice already, yesterday and today, I got malwarebytes and checked the pc for trojans and it didn't find anything, what do I do? edit: it opens after 4 minutes of idling, I don't know what it does yet, plan on making a clean windows installation soon anyway, but I still want to know what it does