In this article I will show you how to fix a common blue screen of death with the error code 0xc000021a
This windows stop code 0xc000021a can appear at random times and you will lose any unsaved work when it happens.
When your machine crashes to this stop code you will see the below blue screen. You will then have to restart your machine to recover from this error.
You can view a video of this article by clicking here
Causes and Symptoms of 0xc000021a Stop Code
The stop code 0xc000021a is a bug in the windows 10 operating system where your machine will crash to a blue screen and you will lose any unsaved work and will have to restart your machine.
The error will occur because your computer had an issue writting something to memory and it does not know what to do and this is what triggers the blue screen of death.
The most common causes are misconfigured software or device drivers, or your system has some sort of corruption.
What ever is causing this stop code we can easily fix it.
How To Fix 0xc000021a Stop Code On Windows 10
To fix the 0xc000021a stop code on Windows 10 do the following
- Insert your windows 10 DVD in to your system
- Boot to the DVD. (If your system does not have a DVD drive you can download a windows 10 ISO from the microsoft.com site and make a bootable USB flash drive)
- On the first screen click on “troubleshoot”.
- Next click on “advanced options”
- Then Click on “command prompt”
- A black window should now pop up, in the window type chkdsk C: /f /r this will perform a chkdsk on your system which will /f = Fixes errors on disk, and /r locates and recovers bad sectors. If you get a y/n prompt type y and hit enter. Now reboot your machine and hopefully it will boot correctly now.
Other Methods To Resolve 0xc000021a
If the above did not work for you we have many more fixes that will work which are listed below
Startup Repair
If the previous method didn’t work we need to perform a windows 10 startup repair. Again boot to the windows 10 DVD. On the first screen you get click on troubleshoot.
Next click on “advanced options”
Then Click on “startup repair”
The startup repair program will start and will scan your windows 10 machine and fix any startup issues it finds. When the repair has finished remove the windows 10 DVD from your system and reboot.
Disable driver signature enforcement
Method 1 and 2 should fix 99% of 0xc000021a windows 10 startup issues, but if you are still having issues there are a few more things we can do. Boot to the windows 10 DVD.
On the first screen you get click on “troubleshoot”
Next click on “advanced options”
Next click on “startup settings”
Then click “disable driver signature enforcement” , then hit restart. Monitor the situation and if the BSOD 0xc000021a is not resolved move on to the next step.
Uninstall recently installed software
It is possible that a recently installed software on your machine is causing the stop code 0xc000021a from appearing.
Repeat the steps in method 3 but at the last screen instead of selecting disable driver signature enforcement select enable safe mode and select restart. Hopefully your machine will boot to your windows 10 desktop. If it does click on the start menu then type in programs and select “Programs and Features”
The below window will now popup. Sort the programs by installed on, Now uninstall as many recently installed applications as you can. Now click on the “View installed updates” on the left hand side of the window. This will show you the operating system updates which have been installed. Again uninstall any recently installed updates.
When you are finished uninstalling recently installed applications / updates reboot your system.
Run a SFC Scan
Repeat the steps in method 5 and boot in to safe mode. Now click on the start menu and type in cmd then right click on the program and select “Run as administrator” when the black window pops up type in sfc /scannow and hit enter. This command will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache. When the scan has finished reboot your machine.
Run a DISM Scan
Repeat the steps in method 6 but apart from running the sfc /scannow command from the cmd window type dism/online/cleanup-image/restorehealth and hit enter. This command will check installed windows updates / service packs for issues / corruption. When the scan has finished reboot your machine.
Update Device Drivers
Some times a device driver becomes corupt or has a bug in it which can cause the stop code 0xc000021a. To update your device drivers follow these steps.
- Open up device manager (Click start, type in “Device Manager” and hit enter) Now expand the driver that is causing the issues (Below I am using the network adaptor as the example.)
- Right click on the device and select properties, then click on the driver tab and note down the driver date and version. (We can see below the version is 3.0.2.201)
- Now search on the internet for an updated driver. We are looking for a driver newer than 26/03/2016 or 3.0.2.201. Download that driver and save it to your machine.
- Now head back to device manager and right click on the device and select update driver, Follow the prompts to update.
- Restart your machine after the driver has been updated. Monitor if your machine still has the stop code 0xc000021a issue. If the issue is still happening continue to the next step
Re-Install Device Drivers
Updating the driver should of resolved the issue, but sometimes if the driver is corrupted it needs to be uninstalled and re-installed. To do this follow these steps
- Open up device manager (Click start, type in “Device Manager” and hit enter) Now expand the driver that is causing the issues, right click on the device and select “Uninstall Device”
- When the driver has been uninstalled reboot your machine. This will completely remove the driver from your system.
- The driver should auto install when windows 10 restarts.
- Go back in to device manager and right click on the device and select update driver, Follow the prompts to update.
Run Windows Update
It is possible that the stop code 0xc000021a error has been fixed in a windows 10 update, We will install the latest windows 10 updates to make sure our system has the latest updates.
To update your windows 10 follow these steps
- Click start > Settings
- Next click on Update & Security
- Now click Windows Updates and then click Check for updates
- The latest windows updates will now automatically download and installed
- Reboot your machine
If your machine is still crashing to a blue screen of death and showing the error 0xc000021a then we can try to update windows 10 to the latest feature update.
Run Windows Feature Update
To the latest version (Currently Feature update version 1903) To do this follow these steps
- At the windows 10 desktop
- Click start and click settings (Cog Icon)
- Click on update & Security
- Half way down the screen it should say “Feature update to Windows 10, version 1909” click on Download and install now
- Your machine will now download the feature update, expect this to take around 5 minutes.
- Once the download has completed it will start to install on your system.
- When the install has finished the status should change to Pending Restart, at this time click restart now
Troubleshoot 0xc000021a Stop Code With The Builtin Troubleshooter Tool
Windows 10 has a built in blue screen troubleshooter tool that we can use to troubleshoot the stop code 0xc000021a blue screen crashes. To use the tool follow these steps.
- Click on the start menu and click the Settings app
- Click on Update & Security
- In the left menu click on Troubleshoot
- Under Blue Screen click on Run the troubleshooter
- Now follow the prompts
- The tool will now scan your system and will automatically apply any fixes needed
- Reboot your machine
Frequently Asked Questions
A system restore can resolve the 0xc000021a stop code as long as the restore point is before when your machine started to get these stop code blue screen of deaths. I recommend you try all the fixes in this article before attempting a system restore.
When a blue screen of death occurs you will lose any unsaved work that was open at the time of the crash. A blue screen crash will not harm your software or hardware.
To resolve a machine that is showing the stop code 0xc000021a and is in an infinite boot loop first try to remove any external devices from your system then try to turn your machine on, If that does not work you will need to create a windows 10 recovery disc.
To resolve the 0xc000021a stop code you will need to update all of your device drivers to the latest versions, If you still have issues after that you will need to run a chkdsk.
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Can you fix 0xc0000145
I followed your instructions but as computer is in a loop, putting flash drive in does not start anything up. Any advice
Thank you
Mine was in a loop as well. I could stop it by pressing F12 and getting into BIOS. From there I could get into recovery options. Thanks to the author for the post: method 3 solved the problem.
Going on safe mode cant solve it, because it needs wininit.exe. Do you know how to recover wininit.exe?
Mine was solved with #1 solution. I tried some Startup Settings options (safe mode, driver signature, debugging), but all just ran to the same BSOD with the same code 0xc000021a. Then I ran into your article and tried the #1 solution: running “chkdsk C: /f /r” on cmd, and finally after shut it down and turn it off again, it succesfully entered login page. Thank you very much! ;v;)/
This is the best guide for resolving this error, though maybe another method could be added which is disabling startup programs and services which I saw on another guide. My computer was crashing on boot but for some reason it booted properly after running chkdsk and when I disabled driver enforcement, but I did not want to permanently disable driver enforcement so I used sigverif to find any unsigned drivers that would cause the crash. I did not have any unsigned drivers, however, but I installed some recent applications and Windows updates from this month and that fixed the issue. So if you are crashing because of driver signature enforcement it might actually be Windows updates not bad drivers. Thanks for the guide!
Never mind, it is still happening. It seems that after I restart it will crash. It did work once and I did notice that it had installed a new update this day after uninstalling the updates, so I will boot with driver verification off, turn off auto updates, uninstall that update and see if it is the problem.
error code :0xc00002a
chkdsk c: /f r/
chkdsk /f /r
sfc /scannow
dism /image:c:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions
i will checked aboved all cmds but still i’m getting same error code ..
anyone please help me how to resolve this this issue ..
+919177132448
my watts number please suggest me …
Ive tried all of the above – and still stuck in the ‘Automatic Repair – which fails every time’ loop 🙁
Same here, was it the new Windows Update?
Same problem here, for me it happened during the newest windows update. So yeah I do think the update might be the problem.
Happened to me too after windows updates. Couldnt get it fixed.
Great article! Very good help for this issue.
In my case, I solved this 0xc000021a error restoring Windows 10 from a system restore point.
Anyway, thank you by this guide.
This was clearly the best help I found for this problem. In my case, got the 0xc000021a error solved with methods 1 and 2. None of the microsoft support guides helped so a big recommendation to this article!
Thank you!
I have tried everything above and also still stuck in the loop. Some command prompts were denied access however
I just want to give you a big “Thank You”. I had this problem as a result of a Win-10 (1809) upgrade installation after the main system had been installed. Method 3 did the trick. You should post this information on the Microsoft community Site; lots of people complaining about this issue.
Method 3 did the trick for me! Thanks for the help
I’m an old IT guy. Yep, getting crusty. So, I was naturally skeptical when you put Safe Mode under Method #5 when it was obviously the first thing to try. I tried that, then I tried a system restore, neither of which worked.
But I was very happy to tell you that Method #3 worked for me! I select “disable driver signature enforcement” but then after one reboot, it reverts to the same issue again: bsod-0xc000021a. Any ideas how to make this permanent? Trying to find the driver culprit?
Step 1 solved my problem , many thanks
Method 7 did not work when i copy and paste the cmd line you write here.
After a quick google search the correct Line that worked was
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Because of f****** Windows 1809 Update disabling the Driver Signature Feature for ever is not working anymore. Because that is the Problem i have, some Driver Signature Bullshit and ofc the integrated Tool to check which Driverfile is not signed shows me ALL Files are ok.
I go through the different new ideas that you posted here and will be back in some minutes to give my final experience what if anything helped. Thank you.
DAMN it works, HELL YES IT WORKS NOW 😀
Method 6 (Administrator Mode) did the trick.
THANK YOU…
F******** MICROSOFT PIN THIS ARTICLE ON THE MAIN PAGE IN THE FORUM UNDER 0x000021a
^^
I could not get past step 4. It is in a continuous loop of automatic repair after reset, and the repair fails every time. Could not get into safe mode so step 5 and onward was out of the question. This latest May update has stuffed up my PC and these solutions aren’t working for me. So I will keep looking elsewhere.
Thanks for the help. The SFC Scan found corrupted files. Seemed like it had to be run from windows though and not from advanced startup. In my case I was able to get into windows by disabling driver through advanced startup OR by holding the power button to do a hard boot into windows FYI.
Thank you very very very much. Method 3 worked. After loading to Windows (Windows 10), I did Windows update directly. It updated two times. The first update I don’t remember. The second update, it updated Windows 10 to version 1903.
Until Method 3 worked for me, thank you so much for this guide.
I accidentally hit “enter” during stage 4 of CHKDSK. This seems to have paused the process?? I can’t tell if it’s paused or not, does anyone know if this paused the process and how to unpause?
Thank you so much. Step 3 worked for me.
When i tried to run the Command Prompt, the sytem said my disk was protected hence could not perform the task, how do I unprotect it?
Thank you.
Thanks for the tips. Mine was, I only got blue screen error with the code 0xc00021a when my laptop (Dell Latitude e7470) is connected online either using wired or wireless. What is the solution
There is a video on YouTube about commands on win ten for releasing computer encrypted issues but I can’t find the link at the moment since prior to this fix I watched a zillion so called easy fixes that didn’t help one bit since my loop never once gave me the restart and advanced option screen to allow me to get to DOS fixes BSOD at any command prompt. Still running chkdsk bit. Hoping it will work but this is at least allowing it to unloop…. But you have to f12 and go to legacy settings first to allow the flash drive to bring up the advanced option at all I ,, .still wasn’t able to restore bc it won’t recognize anything YET regarding restore points even though they did exist, not sure what to do on that yet
I did that and I can’t figure any way to start it and when I tried to start it the dangers thing started OVER and mine’s a 5hr process. I have alien ware 17r4 laptop so it’s still a work in progress but at least I can access advanced options but still not restore or anything and can’t get it into safe mode period yet. Still working on it. No other tutorial got me to advanced options or c prompt. Still should run a BCD black screen death fix command if this doesn’t work down the line. If I can figure how to unpause I will jump back on. Still ONLY tutorial dealing with when the advanced mode prompt never presented itself. 6to 10 stars and likes so far
You’re a miracle worker. Thanks this worked!
Try the pause-break key on your keyboard. I am sure you resolved this by now but I am posting this for others that may come across this searching. That key pauses CMD line batch files, so it should work.
Thank you very much indeed. This article is very useful. So useful
Step two worked for me. Thanks again
Fist of all, you cannot perform from recovery options chkdsk c: /f /r, because d: is in this case where is the windows is installed. So at very begining you are givin wrong guidence.
Please, if you do not have a knowlige for windows OS to fix problems, do not give false guidence.
Sorry if I have gramma errors, english is not mine mother language.
THX
Thank you so much. this is help full 😀