Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors occur in Windows 10. Unlike the wall of blue text that older versions of Windows displayed when the system crashed, new BSODs for Windows are easier and easier to fix. One of the common BSOD errors that still occurs is the system service exception on Windows 10.
For most users, this statement means nothing. Understanding what a BSOD system service exception error is should help you troubleshoot and fix the problem. If you encounter such BSOD error on your Windows PC, here are a few steps to help you understand, fix and fix the problem.
What is the System Service Exception error in Windows 10?
On Windows 10, a BSOD caused by a system service exception error (commonly referred to as SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION) is unusually difficult to resolve. Unlike the Windows Stop Code Memory Management BSOD, this error has several potential causes.
Don’t be surprised if this BSOD sounds familiar to you – this BSOD has been around in Windows for decades. While it sounds trite, Microsoft’s technical explanation states that this BSOD usually occurs when a running process on your PC tries to go from “unprivileged code to privileged”.
Windows, like all operating systems, has security levels for various system processes to ensure that only the right code can be executed at the right time and by the right processes. When this fails for whatever reason, errors like this are thrown to stop the process from harming your system. Unfortunately, there can be many reasons for this.
This could be a one-time error caused by a bug in Windows itself, or outdated drivers, corrupted system files, or a rogue application that tries to access and run Windows protected code. To help you fix the problem, here are some fixes you can try.
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Update Windows 10 and installed system drivers
The best fixes are sometimes the simplest, and for many users, a quick jump to the Windows settings menu to update your computer may be all you need to fix the system service exception error.
Microsoft regularly releases important fixes and improvements for Windows, especially for new hardware. This includes new driver updates for various components of your system.
To update Windows, right-click the Windows Start Menu button and select Settings. From here, click Update & Security to open the Windows Update menu, then click Download or Download and Install to begin downloading and installing all available system updates.
However, you may need to search the Internet for additional driver updates. Video card manufacturers such as NVIDIA, for example, often post newer drivers on their websites than those offered through Windows Update.
Run Windows Driver Verifier
Protected system code can usually only be accessed by specific system processes or devices, which is why hardware drivers usually throw System Service Exception errors on Windows 10 as they are part of a pool of third-party applications that can do so.
Even new device drivers can cause this BSOD error, especially if you’ve installed new hardware. If you are not sure what exactly your drivers are causing this BSOD, you can run the Windows Driver Verifier Tool to check.
It is a troubleshooting tool designed to stress test your system drivers. However, be careful – this is meant to find and recreate the very errors that are causing the system service exception error with a stop code in the first place, so don’t run this tool while you are using your computer for anything critical.
- Driver Verifier is included as a system file in the Windows System32 folder. To run it, right-click the Windows Start menu and select Windows PowerShell (Administrator) to open an elevated PowerShell window, type verifier and press Enter. A new window will launch the Driver Verifier.
- Make sure Create Default Settings is selected, then click Next to continue.
- To check all drivers on your computer, select the Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer option, and then click Finish. If you want to test a specific driver, select “Select driver names from a list” and then click “Next”.
- If you chose Select driver names from a list, select the driver (or drivers) you want to test in the next step, then click Finish.
- The testing process will begin after you click Finish – restart your computer to start the test, and then continue using your computer. You will know if there is a problem as Driver Verifier intentionally throws BSODs during testing if it detects a problem.
You can view the test results and statistics by opening a new Windows PowerShell window (right-click Start> Windows PowerShell (Admin)) and typing in the verifier / prompt before pressing Enter.
- To prevent Driver Verifier from stressing the driver, type verifier / reset in the PowerShell window and press Enter, then restart your computer.
- To check the Windows system drive for errors, right-click the Start menu and select Windows PowerShell (Admin), type chkdsk / r and press ENTER.
Press the Y key to confirm that you want to schedule a file system check on the next computer restart. Once restarted, this tool should automatically fix any system drive problems it detects.
- To check the integrity of Windows files, enter sfc / scannow in a PowerShell window. Like the chkdsk tool, this tool will automatically detect all missing system files and fix them where possible.
- To start a hard reset of Windows, right-click the Start menu and select Settings. Once opened, click Update & Security> Recovery, then click Get Started to begin restarting your computer.
- You can select Keep My Files to keep your documents, or you can click Delete All to completely reset your windows – click one of these options first.
Run CHKDSK and SFC Tools
A problem with your disk or system files can cause a system service exception on Windows 10. You can run chkdsk and sfc commands from an elevated command prompt or from a Windows PowerShell window to double check if this is the case.
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Reset or reinstall Windows 10
When all else fails and you’ve ruled out an issue with the hardware itself, resetting Windows 10 to its default state (or a complete clean and reinstall) can resolve any conflicts causing this BSOD error.
Note. Once this process begins, there is no turning back, so back up your computer first.
Keep Windows 10 up to date to prevent BSOD errors
The steps listed above should help you troubleshoot the system service BSOD error message with stop code on your computer. In many cases, keeping your system up to date should prevent BSODs from occurring, unless there is a more serious hardware problem.
If you have any other fixes for the system service exception error on Windows 10, we’d love to see them in the comments below.
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