A critical system process, C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe, failed with status code c0000374. The machine must now be restarted.

Question

I just upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.572).  Now the Windows restarts following this error seen in Event Viewer each time I attempt to manage user accounts via Computer Management or Control Panel. 

A critical system process, C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe, failed with status code c0000374.  The machine must now be restarted.

There seem to be a few hits for this error on Windows Server but not Windows 10.  The OS is patched to date.  A/V scanning found nothing.  Windows "Reset this PC" did not help.  SFC /scannow didn't help.  Suggestions?

Answer 1

Hi.

My name is Gabriel S. I hope to help you today.

have you tried to go back to the previous windows? that is to say 8?

Greetings…

Answer 2

Hi Gabriel.  Thank you but no I have not tried reverting to an earlier version of Windows nor do I want to.  The requirement is to update to Windows 10.  And if I can't fix this issue, I'll rebuild the VM from scratch.  But if I really get stuck, I can also just power up the old VM running Window 7 that was cloned before I performed this update.  That VM doesn't have this issue.  I have plenty of option to revert but I wish to move forward.  Any suggestions for fixing this issue on the current machine?

Answer 3

Dear Greg_1960, I understand that you are having problems updating windows, in which case I suggest you follow the steps below to reset Windows Update and correct this issue. Initially, if you have a firewall or antivirus, try to disable or remove it to see if it can be one of those software hindering the update.

Manually reset Windows Update components

Important: Carefully follow the steps in this section. Serious problems can occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restoration if problems occur.

To reset Windows Update components, follow these steps:

1.Open a command prompt. To do this, press the Windows logo key + R, type cmd in the Run box, then press Enter. Right-click cmd and select Run as administrator.

2.Stop the BITS service, the Windows Update service and the encryption service. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following commands. Be sure to press Enter after typing each command.

net stop bits

net stop wuauserv

net stop appidsvc

net stop cryptsvc

3.

Delete the qmgr * .dat files. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

DEL "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\qmgr*.dat"

4.If this is your first attempt to resolve Windows update problems by following the steps in this article, you should skip step 4 and go to step 5. You should follow step 4 at this point in troubleshooting only if you are unable to resolve Windows Update problems after following all steps except step 4. (Step 4 is performed by the "Aggressive" mode of the fix-solution mentioned earlier.)

1. Rename the backup copies of softare distribution folders. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following commands. Be sure to press Enter after typing each command.

Ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.bak

REN %Systemroot%\System32\Catroot2. catroot2.bak

2. Reset the BITS service and the Windows Update service to the default security descriptor. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following commands. Be sure to press Enter after typing each command.

sc.exe sdset bits D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)

sc.exe sdset wuauserv D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)

5.At a command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

CD /d %Windir%\System32.

6.

Register the BITS files and Windows Update. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following commands. Be sure to press Enter after typing each command.

Regsvr32.exe atl.dll

regsvr32.exe urlmon.dll

regsvr32.exe mshtml.dll

regsvr32.exe shdocvw.dll

regsvr32.exe browseui.dll

regsvr32.exe jscript.dll

regsvr32.exe vbscript.dll

Regsvr32.exe Scrrun. dll

regsvr32.exe msxml.dll

regsvr32.exe msxml3.dll

regsvr32.exe msxml6.dll

regsvr32.exe actxprxy.dll

regsvr32.exe softpub.dll

regsvr32.exe wintrust.dll

regsvr32.exe dssenh.dll

regsvr32.exe rsaenh.dll

Regsvr32.exe gpkcsp. dll

regsvr32.exe sccbase.dll

Regsvr32.exe slbcsp. dll

Regsvr32.exe Cryptdlg. dll

regsvr32.exe oleaut32.dll

Regsvr32.exe Ole32. dll

Regsvr32.exe shell32. dll

Regsvr32.exe initpki. dll

Regsvr32.exe WUAPI. dll

regsvr32.exe wuaueng.dll

Regsvr32.exe wuaueng1.dll

regsvr32.exe wucltui.dll

regsvr32.exe wups.dll

Regsvr32.exe Wups2

regsvr32.exe wuweb.dll

regsvr32.exe qmgr.dll

Regsvr32.exe qmgrprxy. dll

Regsvr32.exe wucltux.dll

Regsvr32.exe muweb.dll

Regsvr32.exe wuwebv.dll

7.

Reset Winsock. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

netsh winsock reset

8.To reset the proxy settings, at the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

netsh winhttp reset proxy

9. Restart the BITS service, the Windows Update service and the encryption service. To do this, at the command prompt, type the following commands. Be sure to press Enter after typing each command.

net start bits

net start wuauserv

net start appidsvc

net start cryptsvc

10. Install the latest Windows Update Agent.

11.Restart the computer, test whether it is OK.

An alternative is to use the update tool, or create a media by DVD or Pen drive to install the system. For more details see the link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-downlo...

Try to inform us if there is an error between the procedures to follow what is happening in your scenario.

If the answer helped in any way, please mark it as an answer, if your question has not been solved, please post again.

I hope I helped, even more!

Answer 4

I've addressed this issue within my blog post

Windows 10 20H2: lsass.exe crashes (Oct. 2020)

As far as I see, the issue occurs on upgrades to Win 10 20H2 (local pc and domain joined documents) - a clean install won't trigger that bug. I've received similar cases from several users and I've notified Microsoft about some social media channels. And I 've escalated this thread now - hope that helps.

Answer 5

Hi GBorn,

thanks for the hint.

I have installed KB4577063 as mentioned in one of the linked articles from your blog post. Unfortunately, it did not solve the problem for me. My Laptop keeps rebooting 1-2 times per hour, which as you can imagine, is ridiculous if you need to get things done.

The entries in the event log are still the same:

A critical system process, C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe, failed with status code c0000374.  The machine must now be restarted.

Regards,

Harald