How to Fix Windows 10 Critical Process Died – Not Hard

April 20, 2020

No one likes the blue screen of death in Windows while working on the PC or laptops.

If you also want to fix the “windows 10 critical process died” error, let me help you in this post.

Content Summary

Why Do You Need to Repair Windows 10 Critical Process Died Error?

The Windows 10 Critical Process Died issue is more severe than what you can imagine. Thus, if you don’t find the root cause, your computer may suffer from crashes regularly.

You have to list all possible causes to fix this error, but one of the common ones is the clash between different system services.

Unlike Linux, the problem of the Windows system doesn’t come from a bug. Once the system freezes or stops operating, the screen will turn into a blue color. Or you will find out a BSOD with the error message “The CRITICAL PROCESS DIED bug check has a value of 0X000000EF”.

BSOD is a part of Windows. It only occurs when there is a fatal error in the system, or an unauthorized program is trying to edit one or several operating system files.

This error shows a potential cause that requires you to prevent further damage.

The “Critical Process died” issue is mostly due to one of the 500 BSOD error codes. To fix this error, you should stop a few running programs to remove the problem.

Even when you don’t have much knowledge about the Windows operating system, you can find an effective way to fix the error through this article.

What is the Main Cause of “Critical Process Died” Error?

The Windows OS ensures that only must-have, important, and authorized programs can access certain parts of the system. So, if unauthorized applications try to manipulate the data, the Windows itself will shut the system down immediately, resulting in the “Critical Process Died” error in your PC. Sometimes, when your operating system experiences a few malfunctions, this error may occur.

Another cause is the buggy driver files which means your sound and video card drivers are full of bugs. Or the bad memory sector in RAM doesn’t allow your operating system to use certain programs. Both of these causes may crash and show the “Critical Process Died” error.

Whether you use an old or a new laptop, this problem may happen. Therefore, you need to have a broader approach to fix it.

How to Fix “Windows 10 Critical Process Died” Error

How to fix “windows 10 critical process died” error

Depending on a specific cause, you will apply a suitable method to fix this problem. Whether the reason comes from the poorly coded device drivers or the storage devices, you need to follow my instructions to fix your computer work correctly:

Run CCleaner and Antimalware Software

If the cause of the Windows 10 “Critical Process Died” error is corrupted files or virus, you have to clean your computer with CCleaner or antimalware software. Follow the steps by steps below:

First of all, click here to download CCleaner
Install it on your computer.
Launch and let the antivirus scan your computer.
While scanning your computer automatically, CCleaner will delete some files.
After scanning, it’s time to use CCleaner.
Click on the “CCleaner” icon on the Windows screen.
Wipe anything which may cause the error such as Windows, Utilities, Multimedia.
After checking all of them, click on “Run Cleaner” to clean these sections.
Click on the “Registry” tab under the Windows tab to clean Registry files.
Scan all the broken registry files.
“Scan for issue” option is to start the scanning process.
After completing the scanning process, please click on “Fix Selected Issues”.
Backup your registry files because you can restore them if there is something wrong.
Then click on “fix all the selected issues.”
After rebooting the computer, if there are still errors, you can apply other methods.

Run and DISM and SFC Tool

For any persisted errors, fix them with the use of the DISM and SFC tool. Apply the following steps:

Press the keyboard shortcut of X + Windows to open “Command Prompt (Admin)” on your computer.
On the CMD screen, it’s essential to enter the following commands:

SFC/ scannow

If the command above fails, you can try this (sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows)

Hit the Enter key
After the command is executed, you can reboot your computer.
Open the command prompt again in your computer.
Type the below commands in the command prompt screen and hit the Enter key:

Dism – Online – Cleanup-Image – CheckHealth
Dism – Online -Cleanup – ScanHealth
Dism – Online – Cleanup-Image – Restore Health

In some cases, if DISM can’t look for errors in your computer, you can try the following:

Dism – Image:C :\ offline/ Cleanup-Image/ RestoreHealth/ Source:c :\test \mount \windows.

Dism /Online/ Cleanup-Image/ RestoreHealth/ Source:c : \test \mount\ windows / LimitAccess

In this command, “C: \ RepairSource \Windows” is the path of the repair source. So, if you have another repair source, you need to use another path.

The last step is to reboot your computer and check if there are still errors.

Use Driver Verifier to Verify Your Drivers

Make sure that all of your drivers are legit and trusted because the untrusted drivers can cause the Windows 10 Critical Process Died error. To make sure this task is quickly completed, I strongly recommend you use a built-in tool or a driver verifier. After checking, replace any untrusted driver.

Update the Outdated Drivers

The Windows 10 Critical Process Died error may occur due to the outdated drivers. In this case, follow the steps below to update your drivers:

Open the search bar.
Search for “Device Manager“
Open the best matching outcome on the list.
Click on the arrow to expand the list of devices.
Any device with an exclamation mark shows that the driver is old.
To fix this problem, you need to uninstall the driver. Right-click on the device and hit the “uninstall” option.
Restart your PC to save changes. The windows system will install the new driver for the device automatically so all your devices will work well. If you wanted to, you can use third-party software to update the drivers.

Disable Hibernate and Sleep Features

Open the search bar.
Search for “Device Manager”.
Open the best matching outcome on the list.
Search for “Power Options” in the control panel.
Choose “Change what the power buttons do”.
Click on the “Change settings” link.
Uncheck the Hibernate and sleep option.
Save changes and restart your PC.
Check one more time to make sure there is no any persisted problem.

Restart or Reset the Windows 10PC

In case all of the methods above failed, let’s try this last approach.

RESET THE WINDOWS COMPUTER TO FACTORY SETTINGS.

After trying multiple times, it will show the Automatic Repair option automatically.

Click on the “Reset this PC” option on the next window and choose “Remove Everything.”

Wait for a while.

If this method is active, your computer will open.

After that, you need to perform the following steps:

Open the search bar.
Search for “Settings.”
Open the best matching outcome on the list.
Click on the “Update and Security” option.
Click on the “Recovery.”
Click on the “Get Started” button.
Choose the “Keep my files” option. (If you click on “Remove everything,” all your files will be deleted).
After that, the Windows will ask for installation media, so make sure that it is available.
On the next step, select your Windows version. Click on the Drive containing your Windows files. The default one is the C drive.
Click on “Remove my files” option
Click on the “Reset” button.

The Clean Boot of How to Fix Windows 10 Critical Process Died Error

In some cases, the third-party apps will disturb the operating system, requiring you to run a clean boot on the computer to diagnose the issue. Perform the steps below to clean boot your computer:

Open the search bar
Search for “System configuration”
Open the best matching outcome on the list.
Click on the “Selective Startup”
Uncheck “load startup items”
Check the “Hide all Microsoft services” box in the service tab.
Disable unnecessary services by choosing the “Disable all”.
Open the “Task Manager“.
Disable all the startup items through the Startup tab.
Hit on “OK” to save changes and reboot your PC.
Open the System Configuration in the computer.
Enable half of the services on the whole list.
Check the last time to ensure there is no any persisted problem.
If the problems persist, repeat the previous steps.
In case this solution is not sufficient, you should troubleshoot the harmful application.
Restart your PC again.

It’s Time to Work on Your PC without Errors

Although there is only a blue screen, Windows 10 Critical Process Died is a severe error, requiring you to find out the root cause to fix it properly.

Have you found out a suitable solution for your case? Let me know if your computer works well now by leaving comments here.