Several Windows 10 versions affected by blue screen issue

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 18, 2022
Updated • Dec 20, 2022
Windows 10
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Several Windows 10 versions are affected by a new issue that may cause blue screen errors on affected devices. Microsoft confirmed the issue on Saturday for the following Windows 10 versions: Windows 10 version 22H2, 21H2, 21H1 and 20H2.

windows 10 recovery environment

Microsoft's new operating system Windows 11 is not affected by the issue, and neither are Windows Server or Windows Enterprise LTSC and LTSB versions.

"After installing KB5021233, some Windows devices might start up to an error (0xc000021a) with a blue screen", the company notes on its support website. The issue is caused by a file version mismatch. The file hidparse.sys, which is found in c:/windows/system32 and c:/windows/system32/drivers by default is affected by the issue. Signature validations may fail because of the version mismatch when a "cleanup occurs" according to Microsoft.

The company has a workaround for affected devices, but it requires loading the Windows Recovery Environment. The first steps may not be required if the device has experienced the blue screen already and has started the recovery environment automatically.

There are several ways to enter the Windows Recovery Environment. One of the easier options is to select Shutdown on the login screen, and to hold down the Shift-key while selecting the restart option. Another option is to go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, and select Restart now under Advanced startup.

The following steps are required to resolve the issue from the Recovery Environment:

  1. Select the Troubleshoot button.
  2. Activate the Start recovery, troubleshooting and diagnostic tools button.
  3. Select Advanced Options.
  4. Launch a Command Prompt interface with a click on the Command Prompt button. The device may restart at this point.
  5. Run the following command once the command prompt window is open on the screen: xcopy C:\windows\system32\drivers\hidparse.sys C:\windows\\system32\hidparse.sys
    1. Note: if Windows 10 is not installed on drive c:, you need to edit the drive letter.
  6. Once the command completes, type exit.
  7. Select the Continue button.

Windows should restart at this point and the issue should be resolved. Microsoft warns administrators that they should not use any other method to resolve the issue . Microsoft engineers are working on a permanent solution to resolve the issue on all devices. The company has yet to announce a release date for the fix.

Now You: when was the last time you experienced a blue screen or other crash on a Windows device?

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Several Windows 10 versions affected by blue screen issue
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Several Windows 10 versions affected by blue screen issue
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Several Windows 10 versions are affected by a new issue that may cause blue screen errors on affected devices.
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on December 20, 2022 at 3:39 pm
    Reply

    “Once the command completes, type edit.”

    should be, I think –

    Once the command completes, type exit.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on December 20, 2022 at 5:15 pm
      Reply

      You are right, of course. Thank you!

  2. Ehankro said on December 20, 2022 at 2:50 am
    Reply

    Push pressure for update to W11

  3. Flyer said on December 20, 2022 at 12:03 am
    Reply

    Oh come on guys, is anyone surprised?
    If you want a system which just works don’t even touch newer ones or forget about updates.
    Sory, it is a painful true.
    If you want something new, just accept you spend hours many times to bring it back to the state which works before.

  4. Ehankro said on December 19, 2022 at 4:09 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft forced with this strategy client end user force to upgrade w11

  5. J. Floyd said on December 19, 2022 at 1:11 pm
    Reply

    Every version of Windows has had it’s issue/s. Just more so when everyone has the OS and even more when you farm your help from undeveloped 3rd world cra_ holes.such as India.

  6. 1337 said on December 19, 2022 at 5:39 am
    Reply

    I manually install updates about a month or two after they come out. It takes effort but better than being a beta(alpha) tester for m$.

    https://www.sordum.org/9470/windows-update-blocker-v1-7/

  7. Nick said on December 19, 2022 at 2:39 am
    Reply

    @Tom Hawack,

    > No one has ever seen such problematic Windows OSs until Win10/11.

    I take it you weren’t around for Win95/98/98SE which bluescreened all of the time.

    Operating Systems shouldn’t just break unless they’re pieces of shit.

    But if you get your OS from a group of convicted monopolists, good luck.

    1. Tom Hawack said on December 19, 2022 at 10:03 am
      Reply

      @Nick, I’ve experienced Win3.x, 95, XP, Seven and never ran into a BSOD except once with the latter and that was because of a scanner driver. Fortunately an AOMEI system backup restored the OS flawlessly. Never ever otherwise. And I do emphasize on BSODs coming from nowhere but the OS itself, dramatically specific to Win10/11 as I understand it and wish not to install in order to testify this as a personal experience.

  8. Anonymous said on December 19, 2022 at 2:15 am
    Reply

    And people are saying to always keep updated, look at what you got lol

  9. Coriy said on December 19, 2022 at 2:12 am
    Reply

    I’ve not had any BSODs, so I got curious and hunted for the workaround file. I only have hidparse.sys in the drivers subdirectory and not in the main System32.

    1. upp said on December 20, 2022 at 5:27 am
      Reply

      By the time you posted this post they probably have already disabled the buggy update ? Why surprise ?

    2. John XM said on December 19, 2022 at 3:44 am
      Reply

      Same here. I updated in two computers and neither one has the hidparse.sys in System32.

      1. Anonymous said on December 19, 2022 at 4:29 pm
        Reply

        Same here. Two 22H2 Pro and one 22H2 Home, none of them has hidparse.sys in System32. Anyone knows why hidparse.sys is copied from \drivers to \System32 ?

  10. Anonymous said on December 19, 2022 at 1:35 am
    Reply

    I have not experienced this BlueScreen problem.

    Is then copying hidparse.sys from system32/drivers to system32 advisable as a preventive measure?

    I could try out this of course, but I am afraid of getting in some sort of trouble, where I now seem to have none.

    1. Anonymous said on December 20, 2022 at 4:44 pm
      Reply

      I now have copied hidparsw.sys from system32/drivers to system32, with a filemanager.

      A reboot after that ran normally, without any deviating occurrence.

      However a shutdown after that took very very long.

      After a following boot-up later, everything seems OK.

  11. Anonymous said on December 19, 2022 at 12:34 am
    Reply

    Enjoy your subpar alpha software, everyone, hehe! Nothing is wrong with my Windows 7 computer. No stress, and everything functions.

  12. Anonymous said on December 18, 2022 at 9:31 pm
    Reply

    That’s not a bug – it’s a screensaver that hard-locks the computer.
    Also power saving.

  13. Tom Hawack said on December 18, 2022 at 9:07 pm
    Reply

    Reliability is decreasing, everywhere, and latest Windows OSs make no exception.

    Was a time when a user would encounter a Windows issue either when he incorrectly tweaked the OS, either when he installed a faulty external application/software, either when the OS was hit by a virus.

    With Windows 10 & 11 : you buy a new computer with one of those OSs, touch nothing, install nothing, let it running without using it, come back a month later and discover a BSOD.

    Tell what a newbie who follows the OS by the rules and wakes up one morning with a BSOD on his screen can do if he has but that device to connect to the Web moreover. Answer : nothing.

    No one has ever seen such problematic Windows OSs until Win10/11.
    Rotten cherry on the rotten cake : the thing is a tracking machine.
    What the heck has happened to Microsoft?

    1. upp said on December 18, 2022 at 10:32 pm
      Reply

      That’s why I didn’t support Win10+ despite people blaming me for not upgrading my Win7 and deprecating Win7’s applications.

      The quality is close to dogshit, why do I need to use this piece of trash if my Win7 never get BSOD even once for over 10 years already.

  14. upp said on December 18, 2022 at 8:58 pm
    Reply

    Such garbage from a billionaire company.

    1. Oscar The Grouch said on December 19, 2022 at 12:12 am
      Reply

      The company in charge of garbage recollection works for the government.

      They don’t have billions, they barely make enough money to cover their operational costs and pay some bribes.

  15. Haakon said on December 18, 2022 at 7:23 pm
    Reply

    Windows 10 22H2, 21H2, 21H1 and 20H2. So, just about all of ’em.

    Might have been noteworthy to have mentioned KB5021233 arrived with last week’s Bork Tuesday, as it is unlikely the vast majority went about “installing KB5021233” themselves.

    The support page should read, “Did you let your device do a Windows Update? You fool. You might start up to an error (0xc000021a) with a blue screen.”

    Which is why I always (since about 19 90 something) delay updates three weeks where right now my systems are delayed to 01/05 and 01/06/23. Because by then Microsoft engineers will have been done “working on a permanent solution to resolve the issue.” Yup.

    If only on the Settings > Windows Update screen there was a checkbox for “Disable Windows Update” and I’d do selected update(s) manually whenever the heck I felt like it. Of course, upon checking, there would be a disclaimer like, “Disabling Windows Update could result in the fall of human civilization.”

    BTW, while one is sitting there looking at a BSOD, Microsoft’s workaround is to select something on the login screen or in Start > Settings. Let that sink in.

    1. EP said on December 19, 2022 at 7:22 pm
      Reply

      not all of them Haakon.
      doesn’t occur with ltsc 2019 v1809 and its latest update

      “Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 11 is not affected by the issue, and neither are Windows Server or Windows Enterprise LTSC and LTSB versions.”

      what about LTSC 2021, Martin? ltsc 2021 is based on win10 21H2

  16. Hollister said on December 18, 2022 at 7:10 pm
    Reply

    I had this issue on a client PC the past wednesday

  17. Win 11 usr said on December 18, 2022 at 4:01 pm
    Reply

    I have been using win 11 for some time now. I have pushed this OS HARD!. And it’s holding up.
    I’m using windows 11 Pro N.
    The reason I’m using the N ver, is because there’s no bloat ware.

  18. Tom Hawack said on December 18, 2022 at 3:44 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for being so prompt to publish this information, Martin
    Windows beat goes on. I wonder what Shaun has to say about this adventure, odyssey.

    Argentina vs France: FIFA World Cup final minus 15 minutes… read you later, alligators :=)

  19. pHROZEN gHOST said on December 18, 2022 at 3:29 pm
    Reply

    Making you want Windows 11 … or Linux :-)

  20. John G. said on December 18, 2022 at 2:59 pm
    Reply

    It’s time to kill W10, they think, probably.

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