Hello everybody!
In today’s video we’ll be talking about the error CRITICAL PROCESS DIED which you
may face when booting a Windows operating system, why it happens and how to fix it.
Working with a Windows operating system, all of us users have to face various errors, from
time to time.
While we can bear with most software errors - though some of them can be really disappointing
- but encountering system errors may have grave consequences.
This particular system error that we are discussing today may strike your computer out of the
blue and at the most inappropriate moment.
So in this video we will try to examine possible causes of this error and find a cure for it
in Windows 10 and 8.
When this error occurs, you see a blue screen saying “Your PC ran into a problem and needs
to restart.”
All processes are closed, and the computer restarts.
If this error is recurring, working with such computer becomes almost impossible as it can
restart on its own almost at any time.
With things going from bad to worse, this error may prevent the computer from booting
the operating system and after another restart you will see the same blue screen again.
Causes of the error For starters, let’s have a look at when
it may occur.
Most of the time, it is caused by a driver failure.
For example, when the operating system tries to use drivers from Windows Update, but hardware
operates normally only with original drivers from the manufacturer.
Another cause is drivers that start working in a wrong way, because for some reason they
were damaged or come into conflict with the current version of the operating system.
In addition to driver issues, the error CRITICAL PROCESS DIED may occur due to a virus attack,
after cleaning the computer and the system registry from junk files, or when system files
were damaged.
How to fix the error CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED Now that we know the things behind this error,
let’s see how to fix it.
First of all, let’s examine an optimistic scenario of eliminating the problem when you
were lucky enough and the operating system booted successfully after the restart.
And if the operating system can’t boot, try booting in safe mode.
By the way, you can visit our channel to watch a special video tutorial about it by checking
the link below.
Fix the error when Windows boots successfully after the restart
The first thing I’d recommend is to view saved memory dumps that the operating system
creates when faced with critical errors.
Sometimes, this option can be disabled, so go to Control Panel / System, click “Advanced
system settings” on the left, switch to the tab “Advanced” and open Startup and
Recovery settings.
Here are the settings that enable memory dumps.
In the section “System failure,” the boxes should be checked for “Write an event to
the system blog” and “Automatically restart”; a little below, in the Dump file part, the
box for “Overwrite any existing file” should be checked too.
Also, the system folder containing the dump file and the file name should be specified.
If you are in for a more detailed analysis, there is a free utility called BlueScreenView,
and I will leave the corresponding link below this video.
It’s so simple that even novice users can handle it properly.
Run the utility and view recent errors to see the actual offenders.
In the lower part of the program’s window, the lines in red will tell you what drivers
failed and triggered this nasty error.
To learn more about the troubled files (having the .sys extension) use an Internet search
to find out what drivers are represented by specific .sys files.
An important note: another tool you may find useful is WhoCrashed - a free utility capable
of giving you the exact name of the driver that triggered the error.
As soon as you find out what driver caused the problem, go to the official website of
your hardware manufacturer to download the latest version of the software to replace
the version currently used by your computer.
If this error occurred after you updated a driver, you can always roll it back to the
previous version.
Open the Device Manager, right-click on a specific device, choose Properties / Driver
/ Roll Back Driver.
In Device Manager, you can also try to disable the troubled hardware - unless it’s critical
for your work.
If you reinstalled drivers, but the error CRITICAL PROCESS DIED and blue screens of
death keep bothering you, follow these steps:
Reinstall drivers for main hardware elements of your computer.
If this problem occurs on a laptop, this step looks quite easy - just download all the necessary
drivers from the laptop manufacturer’s website.
However, when the CRITICAL PROCESS DIED error hits a desktop PC, you’ll have to find drivers
for your motherboard, graphics card, processor and so on, and this might involve visiting
several websites.
We strongly advise you against using special tools that claim to install all drivers in
a minute.
If there are any restore points available, recover the computer’s condition on a date
when you did not see this error.
Visit our channel for a detailed video tutorial about it, and you can find the links in the
description below.
Another thing to be done is to check integrity of the system files.
Use the standard tool specially designed for this purpose.
Launch the Command prompt as Administrator and run the command sfc /scannow.
Check your PC for viruses.
I recommend watching a good video about it in our channel to get things done quickly
and efficiently.
Restoring the registry is also a good idea.
And it becomes especially relevant if you made any changes there or tried to clean the
registry with specialized junk cleaners.
Once again, in our channel you can find a special video about it - just check the link
in the description.
If nothing helps, try resetting the operating system.
You can do it from the recovery environment by choosing Troubleshoot / Reset your PC.
To learn more, just click the link below.
If none of the tricks worked, try to remember what you did to the computer before the error
CRITICAL PROCESS DIED occurred.
For example, it can even be triggered by connecting some USB peripherals.
If that’s the case, try unplugging the USB device and removing the drivers which the
operating system has installed for it automatically.
How to fix the error CRITICAL PROCESS DIED, if Windows 10 can’t boot
Now let’s find out what to do if you couldn’t boot the operating system and all you can
see is the notorious blue screen of death.
If you can’t boot the computer in safe mode and use special boot options, there’s one
more thing to try.
You will need a bootable USB drive containing an operating system.
If a series of failed booting attempts end in a recovery environment menu on your screen,
there’s no need to create a bootable USB drive or disk.
You can use recovery tools from this menu, including System Restore in the section “Advanced
Options.”
Check the link below to find out how to create a bootable USB drive for Windows.
Here’s an important piece of advice.
The bitness of the operating system in such USB drive should be the same as the bitness
of the operating system currently installed on your computer.
When the Boot Menu appears, click “Next” in the first window of the installation wizard,
and “Repair your computer” in the second window, in the lower left corner.
You will see the short list of possible actions.
First of all, try recovering the operating system with restore points.
For this purpose, open Advanced Options and select the corresponding item.
The second step could be using the command prompt to check file integrity with the command
sfc /scannow.
Another thing you can do with the help of the command prompt is to restore the registry.
If nothing helps, then the only way out is to reinstall the operating system.
That’s all for now!
I hope this video was useful for you.
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Leave comments to ask questions.
Thank you for watching.
Good luck.