[Bug] WinRing0 panic as Admin (CPU N/A) & GPU GTX 1050 Ti shows N/A despite successful initialization

[sturdy-cactus]

Is it a known issue?

• I have searched the existing issues.

What happened?

Issue 1: CPU Power reading fails ONLY as Administrator
If I run WattSeal without Admin privileges, the CPU power consumption is read correctly.
However, if I run it As Administrator, the CPU power stays at N/A. The logs indicate that the WinRing0 driver panics upon initialization when elevated.

Issue 2: GPU Power stays at N/A
The UI shows N/A for the GPU at all times.
Interestingly, the logs show GPU Sensor 0 initialized: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, meaning the card is detected, but no data is polled.

Running as admin:

Denying admin privileges:

Specs
i7 3770
GTX 1050Ti on latest Studio Drivers
Windows 10.0.19045 Build 19045

WattSeal version

1.0.2

Operating system

Windows

Running as admin/root?

Yes

Additional information

[2026-04-20 14:54:42] >>> session start <<<
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] 
========== INITIALIZING SYSTEM ==========

[2026-04-20 14:54:42] Initializing sensors...
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] ✓ CPU Power Sensor initialized successfully
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] 
Detected GPUs: [
    "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti",
    "Microsoft Basic Render Driver",
]
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] ✓ GPU Sensor 0 initialized: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] ✗ Failed to initialize GPU sensor for Microsoft Basic Render Driver: NotSupported
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] 
========== SETTING UP DATABASE ==========
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] ✓ Database initialized
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] 
========== GATHERING HARDWARE INFORMATION ==========

[2026-04-20 14:54:42] ✓ Hardware info saved
[2026-04-20 14:54:42] Initialization complete
[2026-04-20 14:57:22] ⚠ Missing FileDescription in PE metadata for path: C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA App\CEF\NVIDIA App.exe
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] >>> session start <<<
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] 
========== INITIALIZING SYSTEM ==========

[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Initializing sensors...
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Initializing WinRing0 driver...
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] WinRing0 initialization panicked. Freeing stuck driver...
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Stuck WinRing0 driver stopped successfully.
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Stuck WinRing0 driver uninstalled successfully.
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Installing WinRing0 driver...
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Opening WinRing0 driver...
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] WinRing0 driver opened successfully.
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] ✓ CPU Power Sensor initialized successfully
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] 
Detected GPUs: [
    "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti",
    "Microsoft Basic Render Driver",
]
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] ✓ GPU Sensor 0 initialized: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] ✗ Failed to initialize GPU sensor for Microsoft Basic Render Driver: NotSupported
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] 
========== SETTING UP DATABASE ==========
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] ✓ Database initialized
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] 
========== GATHERING HARDWARE INFORMATION ==========

[2026-04-20 14:59:54] ✓ Hardware info saved
[2026-04-20 14:59:54] Initialization complete
[2026-04-20 14:59:55] ⚠ Missing FileDescription in PE metadata for path: C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA App\CEF\NVIDIA App.exe
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] >>> session start <<<
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] 
========== INITIALIZING SYSTEM ==========

[2026-04-20 15:00:16] Initializing sensors...
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] ✓ CPU Power Sensor initialized successfully
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] 
Detected GPUs: [
    "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti",
    "Microsoft Basic Render Driver",
]
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] ✓ GPU Sensor 0 initialized: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] ✗ Failed to initialize GPU sensor for Microsoft Basic Render Driver: NotSupported
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] 
========== SETTING UP DATABASE ==========
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] ✓ Database initialized
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] 
========== GATHERING HARDWARE INFORMATION ==========

[2026-04-20 15:00:16] ✓ Hardware info saved
[2026-04-20 15:00:16] Initialization complete
[2026-04-20 15:00:17] ⚠ Missing FileDescription in PE metadata for path: C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA App\CEF\NVIDIA App.exe

Screenshots

No response

[Daminoup88]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing!

Issue 1: I think your antivirus is blocking the Winring0 driver. We'll need to better detect such cases to provide fallback data. We're working on an alternative to Winring0 that is way slower but with the same precision and that works without admin privileges.

Issue 2: As you have no GPU data at all (% and W), the NVIDIA API is probably not available. Again, we'll improve the logging to see what's happening.

I'll try to include that in the next version and I'll ping you when it's available.