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Unable to boot PC, BSOD - Critical Process died

Anonymous
2019-12-10T10:46:45+00:00

The problem:

  1. When I start my PC, Windows fails to boot and I get a blue screen with "Stop code: Critical process died". I am unable to enter the desktop.
  2. It then restarts and attempts an automatic repair, but fails and takes me to the Recovery Environment
  3. Here, I tried many options, but all have failed:
    1. I am unable to go into safe mode.
    2. I cannot uninstall any updates. I also want to mention that I recently installed a Windows update (1909) a couple days ago. I was then prompted to restart again to apply another update (which I did today), after which I opened Chrome and my computer started freezing up so I restarted it and received the BSOD.
    3. I cannot do a system restore. There seems to be a restore point from a couple days ago, but then when I try to choose my C: drive for restore, it says "You must enable system protection on this drive" and I can't continue.
    4. It won't let me reset the PC and says there's a problem, just like when I try to uninstall updates.
  4. I have also ran Memtest on bootup and received no errors after doing two passes for two hours, so it seems that my RAM is fine.
  5. I tried sfc /scannow in cmd prompt, and it resulted with "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation."
  6. I tried chkdsk E: /f /r /x and it found no problems, though the last line says "Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50."
  7. If anyone wants photos from any of the processes I tried or other extra details, just let me know.

So I am unsure if my WIndows crashed and became corrupted or if it's due to driver failure or registry issues or something else. Is there any way to diagnose and repair this? Maybe with command prompt since that seems to be my only option in the Recovery Environment? I would also like to keep my personal files and apps if possible. Windows is installed on my SSD (C:) and I have another HDD (D:), which I'm assuming I can just detach and save the files. Though I just checked command prompt and it seems like my SSD is now the E: drive.

***Original title: BSOD: "Critical process died" - No solutions in the recovery environment are working***

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-12-11T09:42:44+00:00

    Hello, thank you for the reply.

    As mentioned in my post, startup/automatic repair does not work. When I get the BSOD, there is no error code. It only says "Stop code: CRITICAL PROCESS DIED". The BSOD shows up after a few seconds of Windows trying to load.

    1. I tried BOOTREC /FIXMBR and it says the operation was successful.
    2. BOOTREC /FIXBOOT results with "Access is denied."
    3. BOOTREC /scanos found 2 Windows installations (F:\Windows.old\WINDOWS) and (F:\Windows)
    4. BOOTREC /rebuildbcd asked me if I want to add both of the Windows installations to the boot list. I said Yes, but it resulted with "The requested system device cannot be found."

    I restarted my computer but am still getting the BSOD.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-08T10:50:27+00:00

    nO IT DID NOT i BOUGHT A EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE AND HAD A FRIEND OF MINE PULL THE PERSONAL FILES OUT OF THE HARD DRIVE AND THE WIPE THE HARD DRIVE. aLL i HAVE TO SAY IS THANKS MICROSOFT FOR THE PROBLEM AND NO HELP

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-07T02:31:41+00:00

    did this help? Was it the ssd? I'm having much the same issue with my m.2 ssd

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2020-02-20T07:16:01+00:00

    these commands will only help if the drive is mbr, it could be GPT.

    My PC died in the middle of an update, so after booting from recovery media, it says that I am in the middle of an update.

    so I cant get to the recovery tools.  It never makes it far enough to get to automated recovery.

    I can get to a command prompt through shift  F10

    I cant system restore (You must specify which windows installation)

    There is no registry backup in regback

    The Drive is GPT

    Can't get to safe mode.

    I can DISM, but I am not sure that will help

    Remember I cannot boot, I cant get to the recovery tools on the hard drive or the recovery media because I am in the middle of an update.

    ( I can get to a command prompt.  SFC shows no problems. CHKDSK shows no problems.}

    I can attach the drive to another machine as a secondary device.

    Ideas?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2020-05-17T11:51:53+00:00

    Has anyone got this to work?

    I have experienced exactly the same problem, line 2 doesn't work,

    line 4 "The requested system device cannot be found"

    Things all went wrong after a recent windows update.

    Any help greatly appreciated, can't afford to do a fresh install, recording studio pc with 1/2 finished projects underway.

    Thanks,

    Andy

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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