HELP: BSOD 0x0000018B "SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR" after enabling HVCI – Boot Loop!

Question

I’m honestly at my wits’ end here—hoping someone out there has run into this, because I’m coming up empty. I’ve scoured the internet and found almost nothing except a handful of vague Microsoft Learn threads that don’t really help. Here’s what happened: Yesterday, I changed some BIOS virtualization settings on my Windows 11 Enterprise machine (23H2), tightening things up to force Core Isolation—Memory Integrity, HVCI, the whole deal. Ever since, the computer crashes constantly. Sometimes it throws a BSOD right after I log in. The stop code? 0x0000018B. The error: SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR. Never seen this one before. It’s not blaming a driver or ntoskrnl.exe. Event Viewer (Event ID 1001) shows Bugcheck Parameter 1 as 0x00000000, which (if I’m reading it right) means the Secure Kernel failed a serious check. Here’s what I’ve tried so far: Ran sfc /scannow—came back clean. Ran MemTest86 all night—RAM’s fine. Disabled and re-enabled Hyper-V. Still, the system freezes randomly and hurls the same error. It’s basically unusable. Is my Ryzen 9 CPU toast? Or did Windows somehow wreck the isolated kernel partition (VTL1)? Do I really have to wipe and reinstall everything? Or is there a way to fix this “Secure Kernel” image without starting from scratch? If anyone has any ideas, I’d be incredibly grateful.

Answer 1

Hi ,

I'm Dyari. Thanks for reaching out. I will be happy to assist you in this regard.

If the troubleshooting steps provided by the Q&A Assist does not help, please go to C:\Windows\Minidump and copy any minidump files you find to your desktop. Afterwards, share these files through OneDrive or Google Drive so we can analyze them and identify the specific file that's causing the crash.

Answer 2

The BSOD error code 0x0000018B, labeled as "SECURE_KERNEL_ERROR," typically indicates an issue with the secure kernel, which is part of the virtualization-based security (VBS) features like Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI). Since you've enabled HVCI and are experiencing boot loops, here are some troubleshooting steps you can consider:

1. Disable Memory Integrity: If you can access the system in Safe Mode, try disabling Memory Integrity. You can do this through the Windows Security app under Device Security settings or via the registry if necessary.
2. Check BIOS Settings: Revisit your BIOS settings and ensure that virtualization features are correctly configured. Sometimes, reverting to default settings can help if the new settings are causing conflicts.
3. Driver Compatibility: Ensure that all drivers are compatible with HVCI. Incompatible drivers can lead to issues with the secure kernel. You may need to update or roll back drivers that could be causing the problem.
4. Use Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE): If you cannot boot into Windows normally, you can access Windows RE to perform repairs. From there, you might be able to disable HVCI or restore to a previous point where the system was stable.
5. Check Event Viewer Logs: Since you mentioned Event ID 1001, look for additional details in the Event Viewer logs that might give more context about what is failing. This could help identify if a specific driver or service is causing the issue.
6. Consider System Restore or Reset: If the above steps do not resolve the issue, you may want to consider performing a system restore to a point before the changes were made or resetting Windows while keeping your files.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be necessary to perform a clean installation of Windows as a last resort. However, ensure to back up any important data before proceeding with that option.

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References:

• Memory integrity and VBS enablement
• Silicon assisted security