News: Possible BSOD After Windows Update

Installing Windows Updates is always a recommended function. Microsoft releases updates monthly on “Patch Tuesday” to update, secure, and improve Windows. Sometimes however these updates cause problems, after release. December 2022 patch Tuesday update is one of those times. Microsoft has received reports of a possible blue screen after the December Windows Update is installed.  Today’s post will go over the details and workaround if you have the issue. BSOD After Windows Update

The Issue Reported After December Windows Update 

There are a number of items updated with the December Patch Tuesday. The issue appears to be specific to KB5021233, that after installing and rebooting triggers a blue screen of death (BSOD) on the computer.

If you notice closely, at the bottom of the BSOD the error code will be 0xc000021a.

According to the Microsoft Technical Note

After installing KB5021233, there might be a mismatch between the file versions of hidparse.sys in c:/windows/system32 and c:/windows/system32/drivers (assuming Windows is installed to your C: drive), which might cause signature validation to fail when cleanup occurs.

The affected versions: Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 10, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H1; Windows 10, version 20H2

BSOD After Windows Update

Microsoft WinRE Mode  

The following Information has been released by Microsoft. In BOLD will be additional notes/info added by Tech Geek and More, to simplify the information.

Workaround: To mitigate this issue on devices already experiencing it, you will need to use Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) with the following steps:

The Windows Recovery Environment should come up when your computer isn’t able to fully boot into Windows. If you are in WinRE then you will be seeing the following screen

• You will need to enter Windows Recovery Environment. If your device has not automatically started up into WinRE.

To enter WinRE – If you are stuck on the BSOD, hold the power button on your machine, until it powers off, and then keep holding it for a count of 10 (seconds). Once you have powered down, hold down the physical Shift key on the keyboard and turn on your machine. 

Keep holding the shift key until you see a message about Entering Windows Recovery Environment. 

Workaround Once In WinRE Mode 

• Select the Troubleshoot button.
• Select the “Start recovery, troubleshooting, and diagnostic tools” button.
• Select the “Advanced Options” button.
• Select the “Command Prompt” button and wait for your device to restart, if needed.
  • Your device should restart to a Command Prompt window. You might need to sign into your device with your password before getting to the Command Prompt window.
• TYPE the following command  

xcopy C:\windows\system32\drivers\hidparse.sys C:\windows\system32\hidparse.sys

It should look like the image (above), and then hit enter. That will copy the correct file to fix the issue

**Important: If Windows is not installed to C:\windows you will need to modify what you are typing to the location of your Windows install. For 99.9% of you, Windows is installed on C:\, which is the default location, unless you had a geeky family member do a custom setup for you.

• Once the previous command completes, type: exit and then hit enter 
• This should bring you back to the main WinRE Screen. Select the “Continue” button.

• Windows should now start up as expected.

Important: It is not recommended to follow any other workaround than those recommended above. We do not recommend deleting the hidparse.sys from your Windows\System32 folder.

Final Thought 

This doesn’t affect everyone, so these steps are only if you do actually see the BSOD.  Microsoft is working on an update that will properly fix this for all those affected, but in the meantime, this workaround should keep you running.

Source

• Microsoft – You might receive an error (0xc000021a) with a blue screen

BSOD After Windows Update