All modern versions of FireDaemon software products are compiled with the /NXCOMPAT flag. There should be no reason for you to have to manually exclude the FireDaemon binaries from DEP. This article is retained for historical and informational purposes only.


Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a set of hardware and software technologies that perform additional checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from running on a system. DEP can interfere with the running of FireDaemon services.


To get an older version of FireDaemon Pro (e.g. 1.6) to run successfully, you either need to explicitly exclude FireDaemon Pro from being subject to DEP OR set your system wide default to OptIn via boot.ini. This article explains more, as well as how to perform these actions.

NOTE: On Windows Server 2003 x64 the system wide DEP setting is OptOut. On Windows XP Pro x64 the default is OptIn. Hence on Windows Server 2003 x64 you will need to add FireDaemon.exe as a DEP exclusion as follows:

  • Go to the Control Panel
  • Double click the System applet
  • Go to the Advanced tab
  • Click the Performance Settings button
  • Click on the Data Execution Prevention tab

Your setting there will likely be: "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select".- Click on the Add button

  • Browse to the FireDaemon installation directory (eg. C:\Program Files (x86)\FireDaemon)
  • Select FireDaemon.exe
  • Click on the Add button again
  • Select FireDaemonUI.exe
  • Click on Apply

Your machine may require rebooting after this for the changes to take effect.