You're not the only one experiencing this issue. Windows 11 24H2 is causing some PCs to crash with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error stating "critical process has died." According to sources, Microsoft is aware of the problem and is planning to pause the rollout of this major update for certain device configurations.
Reliable reports indicate that the issue primarily affects a small number of devices with specific Western Digital SSDs, leading to BSOD errors after the update. Although Microsoft hasn't officially confirmed these reports yet, the issue appears to occur when devices are upgraded to Windows 11 24H2 through Windows Update. Microsoft is expected to temporarily halt the availability of the Windows 11 2024 Update on affected hardware, meaning the update won’t appear on these devices via Windows Update or the Media Creation Tool.
What causes WD drives to crash with Windows 11 BSOD ?
Several users have reported encountering Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors after installing Windows 11 24H2, particularly on devices with certain Western Digital (WD) SSDs.
According to reports, the BSODs in Windows 11 24H2 are linked to storage drivers and the RAID controller. If you're affected, you may find the following errors in your event viewer logs:
- stornvme – Refers to NVMe storage drivers.
- The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort1 or 2– This indicates an issue with the RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) controller, which manages multiple hard drives or SSDs as a single storage unit.
"This issue happened to me with a brand-new pre-built PC I purchased from CyberPowerPC, which I ended up returning," shared one user on the Feedback Hub. "It had a 2TB WD Blue SN580 Series (PCIe Gen4) NVMe M.2 SSD and kept crashing with the BSOD error 'critical process has died.' I tried reinstalling Windows and reseating the SSD, but nothing worked, so I decided to return it and build my own PC."
For those unfamiliar, the WD SN770 SSD requires a 200MB Host Memory Buffer (HMB). Windows 11 23H2 allocated just 64MB of HMB without issue, but in Windows 11 24H2, the full 200MB is granted, causing the BSOD with the "critical process died" error.
While turning off HMB via the registry setting "HMBAllocationPolicy = 0" might temporarily solve the issue, this disables HMB for all SSDs. Another SSD model, the WD SN580, which also requires 200MB HMB, experiences the same problem.
Fortunately, sources have confirmed that Microsoft is aware of these reports and is working with Western Digital to block the affected hardware from receiving the Windows 11 24H2 update.
How to Fix Windows 11 24H2 BSOD “Critical Process Has Died”
To resolve the BSOD issue in Windows 11 24H2, follow these steps to disable Host Memory Buffer (HMB) allocation:
1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to this path:
`HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device`
2. If the entry for **HMBAllocationPolicy** doesn't exist under the Device key, you'll need to create it:
- Right-click on the right-hand pane and select **New → DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name the new value **HMBAllocationPolicy.
3. Set the HMBAllocationPolicy value to 0:
- Double-click the newly created HMBAllocationPolicy value.
- Set its Value data to 0, then click OK.
Setting this value to 0 disables the Host Memory Buffer allocation, which can prevent the BSODs. However, note that this may impact your SSD’s performance.
4. Restart your PC.
Alternatively, you can use a Registry script to automatically apply this fix and stop the Windows 11 24H2 crashes.
Alternatively, you can run the following Registry script to automatically resolve the Windows 11 24H2 crashes:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorPort]
"HMBAllocationPolicy"=dword:00000002
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device]
"HostMemoryBufferBytes"=hex(7):56,00,45,00,4e,00,5f,00,31,00,35,00,42,00,37,00,\
26,00,44,00,45,00,56,00,5f,00,35,00,30,00,31,00,37,00,26,00,52,00,45,00,56,\
00,5f,00,3f,00,3f,00,20,00,36,00,37,00,31,00,30,00,38,00,38,00,36,00,34,00,\
00,00,56,00,45,00,4e,00,5f,00,31,00,35,00,42,00,37,00,26,00,44,00,45,00,56,\
00,5f,00,35,00,30,00,34,00,31,00,26,00,52,00,45,00,56,00,5f,00,3f,00,3f,00,\
20,00,36,00,37,00,31,00,30,00,38,00,38,00,36,00,34,00,00,00,00,00