Getting "Bad Image" error status 0xc0e90002 after using the enhancer

[VodkaFlaskGenie]

It was working fine for a while, but despite the fact that I had no updates toggled, I would still have to reuse the enhancer to bypass the timer.
Today I saw the 2 hr timer again, tried to use the enhancer again, got the "Bad Image" error. Running as admin, the app is in exceptions option for the firewall, so it's not a permissions issue. Reinstalled multiple times, Wand works fine on its own, but after I use the enhancer, Wand doesn't open and I get this error, I have to reinstall Wand altogether to get it running again.

What gives?

[davidvelazco]

Hi! Same issue here, and I tracked down the actual cause. This isn't a problem with the enhancer's version.dll itself, the build pipeline correctly forces x64 (cmake -A x64) and statically links the VC++ runtime (verified via dumpbin /dependents in build.ps1), so the DLL is clean.

The real cause is Windows Smart App Control blocking the load. If you check Event Viewer > Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > CodeIntegrity > Operational, you'll probably find an entry like this:

Code Integrity determined that a process attempted to load [version.dll]
that did not meet the Enterprise signing level requirements or violated
code integrity policy (Policy ID:{0283ac0f-fff1-49ae-ada1-8a933130cad6}).

That confirms it's Smart App Control (it can flip itself from "Evaluation" to fully "On" over time without you doing anything), not antivirus or a corrupted download. It blocks unsigned DLLs that proxy system DLL names like version.dll, which is exactly what this tool does.

Fix: go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Windows Security > App & browser control > Smart App Control, and set it to Off. Mine showed "On" but it was still toggleable right from Settings, no clean reinstall needed. Worked right away, didn't even have to reboot.

One thing though, before you do this: Smart App Control does actually block real threats too, not just this enhancer. So turning it off means Windows stops that extra check for everything you run after, not just Wand. And once it's off it won't turn itself back on, you'd need a clean reinstall for that. So just be aware, keep your antivirus on and be a bit careful what else you run.

Might be worth the maintainer adding a note about this in the README since it's probably gonna keep happening as Smart App Control rolls out more on Windows 11.