How to Fix Windows 10 Bug Causing a System Restore BSOD After Installing Updates

[The AchieVer]

How to Fix Windows 10 Bug Causing a System Restore BSOD After Installing Updates 

 

Microsoft has recently acknowledged another issue in Windows 10, as the company discovered that if a series of conditions are met, the operating system could end up unable to boot to the desktop.

 

Bugs in Windows 10 are nothing new, but on the other hand, the ones breaking down the operating system in a way that makes it impossible to reach the desktop are the most critical, especially as troubleshooting them isn’t something that can be done by the average Joe.

In the official advisory, Microsoft explains what triggers the bug.

First and foremost, Windows 10 must be clean-installed on a device, which means that the operating system should be recently deployed from scratch (not upgraded from a previous version).

Users, Microsoft explains, must then enable system protection and create a restore point, something that many of us do in order to make sure that no data is lost in case a critical issue is encountered. System restore is a feature that comes built into Windows by default.

Next, the machine must be updated with at least one patch, Microsoft continues. When you’re ready, if you attempt to restore the device for some reason to the restore point you created earlier, the process might fall with error 0xc000021a. The BSOD forces a system reboot, only for the computer to then fail to boot back to the desktop.

Microsoft explains what causes the bug in the technical advisory linked above:

“During the system restore process, Windows temporarily stages the restoration of files that are in use. It then saves the information in the registry. When the computer restarts, it completes the staged operation.

In this situation, Windows restores the catalog files and stages the driver .sys files to be restored when the computer restarts. However, when the computer restarts, Windows loads the existing drivers before it restores the later versions of the drivers. Because the driver versions do not match the versions of the restored catalog files, the restart process stops.”

 

 

Because you are no longer able to boot to the desktop, you need to rely on the WinRE, or Windows Recovery Environment, to restore the device. In WinRE, you must follow this path:

Troubleshoot > Advanced options > More recovery options > Startup settings > Restart now

Once the device reboots, in the startup settings screen, choose the option called:

Disable driver signature enforcement

Microsoft says that, at this point, the device should reboot and complete the system restore task that you started earlier. However, keep in mind that the process could take a while to complete, so just make sure you do not interrupt it.

Additionally, the software giant says that Windows users can also prevent the issue from happening on their devices using a rather simple workaround. All they need to do is to launch the system restore from WinRE, and not from the settings screen. To do this, follow this path in Windows 10:

Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced options > Restart now

When WinRE loads, click these options and then follow the instructions on the screen:

Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System restore

The bug seemingly exists in all Windows 10 versions, and despite Microsoft not saying it specifically, a fix is presumably in the works already. The next Windows 10 feature update is the May 2019 Update due later this month, but it remains to be seen if a resolution is included or not. Until a fix lands, you should try to avoid this issue using the method above.

 

 

 

Source