How to Troubleshoot Critical Process Died Error in Windows 10/8/7 (10 Solutions)

On this page, you will learn:

• 1. What is Critical Process Died error
• 2. How does Critical Process Died error occur
• 3. How to fix blue Critical Process Died on Windows 10/8/7

Quick Guide to Fix Critical Process Died Error on Windows 10/8/7 

• Step 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode or use Clean Boot.
• Step 2. Fix file system error using Qiling partition manager tool.
• Step 3. Update the disk driver.
• Step 4. Run antivirus.
• More details...

How Do I Fix Blue Critical Process Died Error on Windows 10/8/7?

"Help! A Critical Process Died error pops up while I was gaming on my PC. Hey guys, do you have any clues about what is Critical Process Died error with error code - 0x000000EF or blue screen? 

I received such an error code with a blue screen while I was playing a game on my computer, I was totally out of my mind. Can anyone of you offer me a solution to this problem? It would be highly appreciated if you do know how to fix this error."

If you encounter a blue screen of Critical Process died error on your computer suddenly, don't worry. Check and follow the fixes to get rid of the critical process died issue immediately:

Overview of Critical Process Died

In this part, you will learn:①. What is "Critical Process Died"? ②. How does Critical Process Died error happen?

What Is Critical Process Died Error?

The Critical Process Died error indicates a critical system process that died with error code - 0x000000EF.  When a critical system process fails to run, the operating system won't boot up. It will pop up with a Critical Process Died Stop Error 0x000000EF, or Blue Screen displayed on your Windows computer. 

How Does Critical Process Died Error Happen?

The Critical Process Died issue is basically caused when a critical component of Windows detects that data has been modified when it should not have been. The error also happens when the process which was needed to run the Windows operating system such as Windows 10/8/7 ended abruptly for some reason.

It could be a bad driver, a corrupted file system error, a memory error, etc. Mostly, this error occurs suddenly when users are working on their PCs.

When Will This Error Occur?

Accordingly, the Critical Process Died error often occurs casually. It may happen in the following cases:

• Critical Process Died after Windows Update
• Critical Process Died when Wake PC from Sleep
• Critical Process Died after Login
• Critical Process Died while Gaming
• Critical Process Died on Startup
• Critical Process Died with Windows 10 Reboot Loop

So how to find a solution for Critical Process Died error in Windows 10/8/7 will be a vital question for those users who are having such a problem on their computers. Here the following, Qiling will provide you with practical solutions for fixing Windows 10/8/7 Critical Process Died error with 0x000000EF code.

10 Solutions to Fix Critical Process Died Error on Windows 10/8/7

If you are having a blue screen with "Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you." error message on your PC, relax.

In this part, you will learn practical fixes to resolve Critical Process Died error on your Windows 10/8/7 computers. Pick up one of the listed solutions here to get rid of this issue on your PC now:

• #1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode
• #2. Use Clean Boot
• #3. Run CHKDSK to Fix File System
• #4. Use File System Error Checker - Qiling Partition Master
• #5. Run SFC Command
• #6. Use DISM Command
• #7. Update Disk Driver
• #8. Run Antivirus Software
• #9. Uninstall Recent Windows Update
• #10. Perform System Restore

Solution 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode

Here we'll take Windows 10 as an example to show you how to reboot PC into Safe Mode, which is a quick way of turning on Windows, prevent you from getting Critical Process Died error.

To thoroughly fix this the Critical Process Died error, you should also boot up PC first. Here are the steps to get started:

Step 1. Restart Windows 10, press Shift + F8  to bring up the recovery mode.

Step 2. Go to Advanced Boot Options and set boot mode as Safe Mode.

Or you can restart PC several times > Enter Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart > Enable Safe Mode.

Step 3. Save the changes and then startup Windows PC.

Solution 2. Perform a Clean Boot

After you boot up PC from Safe Mode, you can then continue to configure a Clean Boot in System Configuration.

Here are the steps:

Step 1.Type msconfig in the Search box and hit enter to open System Configuration.

Step 2. Go to the General tab, check the two boxes under the Selective startup section:

• "Load system services"
• "Use original boot configurations"

Step 3. Click "OK" to confirm. 

Step 4. Go to the Services tab, check "Hide all Microsoft services" and click "Disable all".

Step 5. Click "OK" and "Apply" to save all the changes. Then restart the PC.

Solution 3. Run CHKDSK to Fix File System Error

When the system hard drive contains file system error, the computer may come into Critical Proceed Died error while booting up PC. To fix this issue, you can first boot PC into safe mode, and then follow the steps below to run CHKDSK command:

Step 1.Type cmd in the Search box and right-click Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator".

Step 2.Type diskpart and hit Enter to bring up DiskPart window.

Step 3. Type chkdsk e: /f /r /x and hit Enter. (Replace e: with the drive letter of your system drive or disk.)

Solution 4. Use File System Error Checker - Qiling Partition Master

For an easier solution to fix file system error that cause Critical Process Died issue on Windows PC, you may turn to Qiling Partition Master Free for help. It works professionally in checking and fix system file errors with simple clicks.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Here the following, you can try it to check and fix errors under Windows 10/8/7 now:

Step 1. Click the target partition that has a problem. 

Step 2. Choose "Advanced" > "Check File System". 

Step 3. In the Check File System window, check the "Fix the error on the disk" option.

Step 4. Click "Proceed" to check errors on your partition.

Solution 5. Run SFC Command

When the system file contains some error, you may also run into Critical Process Died issue on your computer. To fix this issue, you can also run the SFC command for help.

Here are the steps:

Step 1.Type cmd in the search box, right-click command prompt and select "Run As Administrator".

Step 2. At the command prompt, type sfc /scannow and hit Enter.

The SFC utility will run for a while and if any corruption or error is discovered, replace them on reboot.

Solution 6. Use DISM Command

Besides SFC command, the DISM command is more advanced in fixing disk errors. It can check and restore your system health.

See how to run DISM command to fix Critical Process Died error on Windows PC:

Step 1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

Step 2. Type the following command and hit Enter each time to check the system health:

Step 3.Type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthand hit Enter.

After this, exit Command Prompt and restart PC to keep all the changes. If you successfully boot up PC, you've successfully got rid of this error from your computer.

Solution 7. Update Disk Driver

Sometimes, when the system disk driver is outdated, you may also meet the Windows boot-up issue, such as the Critical Process Died error. You can try to update the disk driver to get rid of this issue with the steps here:

Step 1. Right-click This PC, click "Manage". Go to Device Manager.

Step 2. Double-click to expand Disk driver. Right-click your disk driver and choose "Update Driver Software".

Step 3. In the pop-up window, choose "Search automatically for updated driver software". 

Then, wait for the computer to search and install the latest driver software.

Solution 8. Run Antivirus Software

As you may know that sometimes viruses or malware may cause system boot issues and even OS crash errors on Windows 10/8/7. Therefore, a regular way to fix this issue is to run antivirus software for help.

Or you can use Windows' built-in antivirus too - Windows defender for help:

Step 1.  Go to Start > Type Windows Defender and click to open Windows Defender Security Center.

Step 2. Click the Shield icon on the left pane, click "Advanced scan".

Step 3. Check "Full scan" and click "Scan now" to run antivirus.

Note that the steps may vary if you are using a different Windows OS version. But most operations are similar.

Solution 9. Uninstall Recent Windows Update

Sometimes, Windows users especially the latest Windows 10 users may encounter with Critical Process Died error on their computers. And the best way out is to uninstall the recent Windows update.

Here are the steps for you to go:

Step 1. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

Step 2. Click "View update history" under Windows Update.

Step 3. Click "Uninstall updates".

Step 4. Select the update(s) that you want to uninstall and click "Uninstall".

Then all you need is to follow the on-screen guidelines to complete the process. After this, you can then restart PC to see if the error has been removed.

Solution 10. Perform System Restore

If you run into any complex system error, you may always escape by performing a system restore.  Here are the steps to run system restore, bringing your computer back to a previous health state:

Note that if you have created some new data on your computer, remember to back up them to an external hard drive in advance. 

Step 1. Type create a restore point in Windows Search box and click the top result to open "System Properties".

Step 2. Click the System Restore button to bring up all the restore points that you've created.

Step 3. Click "Next" and select the restore point that you want to use and restore on your PC.

Step 4. Click "Finish" to confirm your restore point and click "Yes" to execute the System Restore on your PC.

Conclusion

On this page, we explained what is Critical Process Died error on Windows PC, and the causes of this issue. Note that as this error comes out randomly, we highly suggest you create a system backup in advance.

You may refer to: How to Create Windows 10 Backup System Image for a guide.

Among the 10 fixes that we listed on this page, we suggest you boot up PC into safe mode first. Then run Qiling Partition Master to fix the internal file system error on your computer drive.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

If you are experienced in computer management, CHKDSK, SFC, DISM commands are also able to help you out of the Critical Process Died error.

Related Articles

• FIX: Missing Operating System (Operating System Not Found) for Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
• How to Install Windows 11/10 on External Hard Drive [2 Ways]
• [Fixed] Windows Cannot be Installed to This Disk. The Selected Disk is of the GPT Partition Style
• How-to: Create USB Bootable Partition Manager to Manage Partitions Safely