Do you dread seeing the Blue Screen of Death or BSoD? Well, so does the rest of the world! And it’s highly annoying as well. Unfortunately, the kernel security check failure is one such “serious” error that results in a BSOD.
One of the leading causes of BSOD (Blue Screen of death) is the Kernel Security Check Failure. This error happens most of the time when you update your Windows 10 or upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10 because the drivers that you have been using the old version of windows do not work with the new version of Windows. Just updating the drivers do not solve the issue most of the time, and it is frustrating. Don’t worry, as we have fixed this issue using the working methods. Follow the steps, and you will end up solving the problem by yourself.
What causes kernel security check failure?
The kernel_security_check_failure happens due to:
- Memory problems
- Outdated drivers
- Viruses
- Corrupted Windows system files
- Security programs
- A damaged or corrupted hard disk
Out of these, the most common is incompatible drivers, significantly if you’ve upgraded to Windows 8 or 10 from an older version. In all likelihood, you might be using a driver that worked well for previous versions but not for the current one. In such a case, the system throws this error.
Typically, there’s a check process in Windows operating system during startup. This process throws the kernel_security_check_failure windows 10 error when it detects corruption in any critical data structure.
If you get a BSOD with the error kernel security check failure, a few things could be causing it. Try to figure out what might be causing this error on your computer.
- Malware: A very likely reason for kernel security check failure is malware. Viruses make the windows file corrupt, and thus windows fail to boot.
- Outdated Drivers: As mentioned above, outdated drivers can cause this issue, and you have to update the drivers differently as the windows are already not booting up.
- System Memory Problem: Have you changed the memory stick? Maybe the new RAM is not supported by your system. And this can also cause the error for kernel security check failure.
- Windows Files Deleted or Corrupted: The corruption of the windows file can also cause kernel security check failure. Have you installed any new programs on your laptop? Because some programs tend to delete or modify the Windows system files, thus causes this error.
How to fix kernel security check failure?
There’s good and bad news here. Let’s go with the bad news first.
The kernel security check failure looks like this.
It means you’re not going to know precisely what the problem is. Is it drivers, memory, virus, or what? So you’ll have to explore a bit to understand the problem.
The good news is you can fix it quickly, though you may have to try different steps to identify the cause.
Let’s see how to identify and fix this error.
Memory problems
You can identify memory problems with the memory diagnostics tool available in Windows 10, 8, and 7. This tool also tests the RAM on your computer.
To run this tool, go to the Control panel and type “memory” in the search bar. Click on “diagnose computer memory problems” to open this tool. You can also type “mdsched” in start search and hit Enter to open this tool.
You have two options — restart the computer and check for problems right away or check for situations when you restart.
Choose either of the two options depending on your preference. If you choose to restart right away, make sure you save your work.
Suppose you’re an advanced user and want to adjust this tool’s settings, press F1 when the device starts. You can change the following parameters.
- Test — There are three types of tests, namely, basic, standard, and extended. Each of these tests is described on the screen, and you can choose whichever you want.
- Cache — Choose the cache setting
- Pass count — Decide how many times you want the system to repeat this test.
After making the changes, type F10 to start the test.
If this tool throws up errors, contact your manufacturer as these errors indicate a problem in the memory chip or RAM for fix kernel_security_check_failure windows 10.
Corrupted Windows file system
To check if the kernel security check failure is due to a corrupted or damaged file system, run the system file checker tool.
Run this utility tool if you’ve modified or replaced any system files while customizing your operating system. Also, run this tool when you think some other program could’ve tampered with your system files, though it’s pretty unlikely if you’re using Windows Vista, 7, 8, or 10. In these versions, the system file checker is integrated with the Windows Resource Protection, so all critical system files are in protected mode. Even if there’s any change, the original file is restored automatically from a cached copy of the folder.
Anyway, to run this tool, open your command prompt, type “sfc/scannow,” and hit enter. This tool will run, and in case of any problems, it’ll replace the corrupted files from the cache during reboot.
Driver issues
Driver Verifier is a good tool to check for driver incompatibilities. To open this tool, type “verifier” in the start menu search box and hit enter. Alternately, type “verifier/?” in the command prompt. Both these options should open the Driver Verifier.
Note: You’ll have to run this tool as an administrator.
Select “create standard settings,” which is the default and click next. You can also choose “create custom settings” to select individual options or settings. Some of your options are:
Select Standard Settings and click Next. You will see some options here. You can choose the option according to your requirements. Here are the details of each option; it will help you choose the best option for you.
- Automatically Select and Assign: This option makes sure that the selected driver is working fine, and if the driver is not working right, it should be removed.
- Special Pool: On selecting this option, the verifier designates the driver’s memory from a private pool for overruns and underruns.
- Low Resource Simulation: On choosing this option, the verifier denies the memory requests to a driver to test its ability to handle the low resources.
- Pool Tracking:, when chosen, take extraordinary measures to prevent memory leaks.
- Deadlock Option: This option helps to identify the deadlocks of drivers because of the driver’s spin-locks.
- DMA Verification: If you want to check the drivers’ DMA buffers and map registers, you should select this option.
- Security Checks: This option does a scan to check for viruses and errors that cause the vulnerabilities.
If your system has corrupted drivers or something, then you will get to know after this. Now when you know that what driver is causing the kernel security check failure, you can reinstall, update or delete that.