Configure Driver Verifier
Driver verifier is a utility built into the OS (Windows 200, XP, Vista, WIN 7, Win 8, 8.1 and win 10) that will often find the driver/drivers that are the underlying cause of BSOD errors It is an "iffy" proposition because it will not ALWAYS tell us which driver it was, but it is the best way to narrow down the possibilities.
Configure Driver Verifier to find out which driver is causing the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD). Driver Verifier monitors Windows kernel-mode drivers, graphics drivers, and even 3rd party drivers to detect illegal function calls or actions that might corrupt the system. Driver Verifier can subject the Windows drivers to a variety of stresses and tests to find improper behavior. Essentially, if there's a 3rd party driver believed to be causing the issues at hand, enabling Driver Verifier will help us see which specific driver is causing the problem.
Create System Restore Point
Before enabling Driver Verifier, I recommend to create a System Restore Point:
• For Windows XP click “Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools”, and then click System Restore.
• For Windows Vista type rstrui.exe into Start Menu to create a restore point.
• For Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 type create into Start Menu or Search charm and select "Create a Restore Point"
• For Windows 10 click Start Menu --> Control Panel --> System --> System Protection click Create button.
Create System Repair Disc/USB
If you don't have a Windows Installation DVD then create a Windows System Repair Disc:
Create a Windows Vista System Repair Disc
The Service Pack 1 must be installed to create a Windows System Repair Disc from Windows Vista.
Program that creates a Windows System Repair Disc can be started from "Start Menu --> All Programs --> Maintenance --> Create a Recovery Disc". Follow the instructions to create a Windows System Repair Disk you will need either a blank CD or DVD.
Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc
Open the "Backup and Restore" by clicking the "Start Menu --> Control Panel --> System and Maintenance --> Backup and Restore" and in the left pane, click “Create a system repair disc”. You will need a blank CD or DVD and then just follow the instructions to create a Windows Repair Disk.
Create a Windows 8, 8.1 System Repair Disc
Open the Search charm by dragging your mouse to the top or bottom right corners of the screen or press WinKey + Q keys and type Recover into Search charm and click Create a recovery drive to create USB recovery drive which will include Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and optionally Windows OS factory recover image.
You will need empty USB Flash Drive or blank CD or DVD if you click “Create a system repair disk with a CD or DVD” option on the Connect USB flash drive screen.
Create Windows 10 System Repair USB flash drive
1. Open your Start menu, type RecoveryDrive.exe in the search box, press Enter key.
2. Click on the Create a recovery drive link.
3. Check or Uncheck the Back up system files to the recovery drive box for what you want to do, and click on Next button.
4.Select the USB flash drive (ex: "E:\ (USB)" ) you want to make a recovery drive, and click on Next button.
5. When ready to start, click on Create button.
Please do not follow below instructions as long as you have not ask to do by person who is assisting you with troubleshooting Windows BSOD errors!.
How to enable Driver Verifier
Type "verifier" without the quotes into Start Menu or Search charm or Run command box.
Select the following options:
1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. From "Select individual settings from a full list", select everything except for "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "Low Resource Simulation" .
3. Click "Next" button.
4. At next setup screen click Next button.
5. Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next" button.
6. Click on the "Provider" column. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
7. Check every box that is not provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
8. Click on Finish button.
9. Restart your computer.
Important information regarding Driver Verifier
Perhaps the most important which I will now clarify as this has been misunderstood often, enabling Driver Verifier by itself is not a solution, but instead a diagnostic utility. It will tell us if a driver is causing the BSOD, but again it will not outright solve your issues. If Driver Verifier finds a violation, the system will BSOD. To expand on this a bit more for the interested, specifically what Driver Verifier actually does is to look for any driver making illegal function calls, causing memory leaks, etc. When and/if this happens, system corruption occurs if allowed to continue. When Driver Verifier is enabled by following instructions above, it is monitoring all 3rd party drivers (as we have it set that way) and when it catches a driver attempting to do this, it will quickly flag that driver as being a troublemaker, and bring down the system safely before any corruption can occur.
Verifier will consume a lot of CPU and may slow down the PC considerably.
You may also experience additional crashes.
Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the BSOD. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 24 hours of continuous operation.
Reboot into Windows (after the BSOD crash) and locate the memory dump file. If present, turn off Driver Verifier by going back in Driver Verifier and selecting "Delete existing settings" setting on the first page. Then, zip up the memory dump file(s) and upload them with your next post. If no dump files were generated, post back for further suggestions.
If your computer is not generating DMP files, please do the following:
1. Start Menu and type %SystemRoot% which should show the Windows folder, click on it. Once inside that folder, ensure there is a Minidump folder created. If not, CTRL-SHIFT-N to make a New Folder and name it Minidump.
2. Windows key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left and navigate to Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced click Change… button and ensure there's a check-mark for 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives'.
3. Windows key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left and click Advanced tab, under ‘Startup and Recovery’ section click Settings button and ensure there is a check mark next to ' Write an event to the system log'.
4. Ensure Small Memory Dump is selected and ensure the path is %SystemRoot%\Minidump .
Double check that the Windows Error Reporting Service service is enabled
From Start Menu type services.msc, find Windows Error Reporting Service if the status of the service is not Started then right click it and select Start. Also ensure that under Startup Type it is set to Automatic rather than Manual. You can do this by right clicking the Windows Error Reporting Service, selecting Properties, and on General tab set startup type to 'Automatic', and then click Apply.
Cannot Boot Windows After Enabling Driver Verifier
After enabling Driver Verifier and restarting the system, depending on the culprit, if for example the driver is on start-up, you may not be able to get back into normal Windows because Driver Verifier will detect it in violation almost straight away, and force a BSOD.
If this happens, do not panic, do the following:
For Windows XP, Vista and 7 OS’s boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.
Note that Safe Mode for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 is a bit different, and you may need to try different methods: http://www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to-boot-into-safe-mode-on-windows-8-the-easy-way/
Once in Safe Mode type cmd.exe into Start Menu or Search charm.
To turn off Driver Verifier, type verifier /reset command and press Enter key.
Restart and boot into normal Windows.
If your OS became corrupt or you cannot boot into Windows after disabling Driver Verifier via Safe Mode:
1. Boot into Safe Mode.
2. Once in Safe Mode type rstrui.exe into Start Menu or Search charm.
3. For Windows XP click “Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools”, and then click System Restore.
4. Choose the restore point you created earlier.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your Windows Setup DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.
If you have any issue completing any one of the suggestions above please inform the person who is assisting you with troubleshooting Windows BSOD issue.
How long should I keep Driver Verifier enabled for?
I recommend keeping it enabled for at least 24 hours. If you don't BSOD by then, disable Driver Verifier. I will usually say whether or not I'd like for you to keep it enabled any longer.
My system BSOD with Driver Verifier enabled, where can I find the crash dumps?
If you have the system set to generate Small Memory Dumps, they will be located in C:\Windows\Minidump directory.
If you have the system set to generate Kernel Memory Dumps, it will be located in C:\Windows directory and labelled as
MEMORY.DMP file.
Configure Driver Verifier to find out which driver is causing the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD). Driver Verifier monitors Windows kernel-mode drivers, graphics drivers, and even 3rd party drivers to detect illegal function calls or actions that might corrupt the system. Driver Verifier can subject the Windows drivers to a variety of stresses and tests to find improper behavior. Essentially, if there's a 3rd party driver believed to be causing the issues at hand, enabling Driver Verifier will help us see which specific driver is causing the problem.
Create System Restore Point
Before enabling Driver Verifier, I recommend to create a System Restore Point:
• For Windows XP click “Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools”, and then click System Restore.
• For Windows Vista type rstrui.exe into Start Menu to create a restore point.
• For Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 type create into Start Menu or Search charm and select "Create a Restore Point"
• For Windows 10 click Start Menu --> Control Panel --> System --> System Protection click Create button.
Create System Repair Disc/USB
If you don't have a Windows Installation DVD then create a Windows System Repair Disc:
Create a Windows Vista System Repair Disc
The Service Pack 1 must be installed to create a Windows System Repair Disc from Windows Vista.
Program that creates a Windows System Repair Disc can be started from "Start Menu --> All Programs --> Maintenance --> Create a Recovery Disc". Follow the instructions to create a Windows System Repair Disk you will need either a blank CD or DVD.
Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc
Open the "Backup and Restore" by clicking the "Start Menu --> Control Panel --> System and Maintenance --> Backup and Restore" and in the left pane, click “Create a system repair disc”. You will need a blank CD or DVD and then just follow the instructions to create a Windows Repair Disk.
Create a Windows 8, 8.1 System Repair Disc
Open the Search charm by dragging your mouse to the top or bottom right corners of the screen or press WinKey + Q keys and type Recover into Search charm and click Create a recovery drive to create USB recovery drive which will include Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and optionally Windows OS factory recover image.
You will need empty USB Flash Drive or blank CD or DVD if you click “Create a system repair disk with a CD or DVD” option on the Connect USB flash drive screen.
Create Windows 10 System Repair USB flash drive
1. Open your Start menu, type RecoveryDrive.exe in the search box, press Enter key.
2. Click on the Create a recovery drive link.
3. Check or Uncheck the Back up system files to the recovery drive box for what you want to do, and click on Next button.
4.Select the USB flash drive (ex: "E:\ (USB)" ) you want to make a recovery drive, and click on Next button.
5. When ready to start, click on Create button.
Please do not follow below instructions as long as you have not ask to do by person who is assisting you with troubleshooting Windows BSOD errors!.
How to enable Driver Verifier
Type "verifier" without the quotes into Start Menu or Search charm or Run command box.
Select the following options:
1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. From "Select individual settings from a full list", select everything except for "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "Low Resource Simulation" .
3. Click "Next" button.
4. At next setup screen click Next button.
5. Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next" button.
6. Click on the "Provider" column. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
7. Check every box that is not provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
8. Click on Finish button.
9. Restart your computer.
Important information regarding Driver Verifier
Perhaps the most important which I will now clarify as this has been misunderstood often, enabling Driver Verifier by itself is not a solution, but instead a diagnostic utility. It will tell us if a driver is causing the BSOD, but again it will not outright solve your issues. If Driver Verifier finds a violation, the system will BSOD. To expand on this a bit more for the interested, specifically what Driver Verifier actually does is to look for any driver making illegal function calls, causing memory leaks, etc. When and/if this happens, system corruption occurs if allowed to continue. When Driver Verifier is enabled by following instructions above, it is monitoring all 3rd party drivers (as we have it set that way) and when it catches a driver attempting to do this, it will quickly flag that driver as being a troublemaker, and bring down the system safely before any corruption can occur.
Verifier will consume a lot of CPU and may slow down the PC considerably.
You may also experience additional crashes.
Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the BSOD. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 24 hours of continuous operation.
Reboot into Windows (after the BSOD crash) and locate the memory dump file. If present, turn off Driver Verifier by going back in Driver Verifier and selecting "Delete existing settings" setting on the first page. Then, zip up the memory dump file(s) and upload them with your next post. If no dump files were generated, post back for further suggestions.
If your computer is not generating DMP files, please do the following:
1. Start Menu and type %SystemRoot% which should show the Windows folder, click on it. Once inside that folder, ensure there is a Minidump folder created. If not, CTRL-SHIFT-N to make a New Folder and name it Minidump.
2. Windows key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left and navigate to Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced click Change… button and ensure there's a check-mark for 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives'.
3. Windows key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left and click Advanced tab, under ‘Startup and Recovery’ section click Settings button and ensure there is a check mark next to ' Write an event to the system log'.
4. Ensure Small Memory Dump is selected and ensure the path is %SystemRoot%\Minidump .
Double check that the Windows Error Reporting Service service is enabled
From Start Menu type services.msc, find Windows Error Reporting Service if the status of the service is not Started then right click it and select Start. Also ensure that under Startup Type it is set to Automatic rather than Manual. You can do this by right clicking the Windows Error Reporting Service, selecting Properties, and on General tab set startup type to 'Automatic', and then click Apply.
Cannot Boot Windows After Enabling Driver Verifier
After enabling Driver Verifier and restarting the system, depending on the culprit, if for example the driver is on start-up, you may not be able to get back into normal Windows because Driver Verifier will detect it in violation almost straight away, and force a BSOD.
If this happens, do not panic, do the following:
For Windows XP, Vista and 7 OS’s boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.
Note that Safe Mode for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 is a bit different, and you may need to try different methods: http://www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to-boot-into-safe-mode-on-windows-8-the-easy-way/
Once in Safe Mode type cmd.exe into Start Menu or Search charm.
To turn off Driver Verifier, type verifier /reset command and press Enter key.
Restart and boot into normal Windows.
If your OS became corrupt or you cannot boot into Windows after disabling Driver Verifier via Safe Mode:
1. Boot into Safe Mode.
2. Once in Safe Mode type rstrui.exe into Start Menu or Search charm.
3. For Windows XP click “Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools”, and then click System Restore.
4. Choose the restore point you created earlier.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your Windows Setup DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.
If you have any issue completing any one of the suggestions above please inform the person who is assisting you with troubleshooting Windows BSOD issue.
How long should I keep Driver Verifier enabled for?
I recommend keeping it enabled for at least 24 hours. If you don't BSOD by then, disable Driver Verifier. I will usually say whether or not I'd like for you to keep it enabled any longer.
My system BSOD with Driver Verifier enabled, where can I find the crash dumps?
If you have the system set to generate Small Memory Dumps, they will be located in C:\Windows\Minidump directory.
If you have the system set to generate Kernel Memory Dumps, it will be located in C:\Windows directory and labelled as
MEMORY.DMP file.