EaseUS Partition Master

How to Fix Critical Process Died Error in Windows 10/8/7🔥

If you fail to run your computer with a critical process died error - 0x000000EF or blue screen on PC, do not worry. Here on this page, 10 solutions for critical process died error in Windows 10/8/7 are available to help now.

Free Download 

Windows 11/10/8/7100% Secure

Content

Total downloads

Page content

Updated by Roxanne on Nov 07, 2023
Written by Tracy King

On this page, you will learn:

  1. 1. What is Critical Process Died error
  2. 2. How does Critical Process Died error occur
  3. 3. How to fix blue Critical Process Died on Windows 10/8/7

Fix Critical Process Died error

Quick Guide to Fix Critical Process Died Error on Windows 10/8/7 

  1. Step 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode or use Clean Boot.
  2. Step 2. Fix file system error using EaseUS partition manager tool.
  3. Step 3. Update the disk driver.
  4. Step 4. Run antivirus.
  5. More details...

"Help! A Critical Process Died error pops up while I was gaming on my PC. Hey guys, do you have any clues about what is Critical Process Died error with error code - 0x000000EF or blue screen? 

I received such an error code with a blue screen while I was playing a game on my computer, I was totally out of my mind. Can anyone of you offer me a solution to this problem? It would be highly appreciated if you do know how to fix this error."

If you encounter a blue screen of Critical Process died error on your computer suddenly, don't worry. Check and follow the fixes to get rid of the critical process died issue immediately:

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode Restart Windows 10, press Shift + F8  to bring up the recovery mode...Full steps
Fix 2. Perform a Clean Boot Type msconfig in the Search box and hit enter to open System Configuration...Full steps
Fix 3. Run CHKDSK to Fix File System Open Command Prompt and Type chkdsk e: /f /r /x and hit Enter...Full steps
More Fixes Run EaseUS Partition Master > Right-click disk and select "Check File System"...Full steps

Overview of Critical Process Died

In this part, you will learn:①. What is "Critical Process Died"? ②. How does Critical Process Died error happen?

What Is Critical Process Died Error?

The Critical Process Died error indicates a critical system process that died with error code - 0x000000EF.  When a critical system process fails to run, the operating system won't boot up. It will pop up with a Critical Process Died Stop Error 0x000000EF, or Blue Screen displayed on your Windows computer. 

Critical Process Died error

Why Does Critical Process Died Error Happen?

The Critical Process Died issue is basically caused when a critical component of Windows detects that data has been modified when it should not have been. The error also happens when the process which was needed to run the Windows operating system such as Windows 10/8/7 ended abruptly for some reason.

It could be a bad driver, a corrupted file system error, a memory error, etc. Mostly, this error occurs suddenly when users are working on their PCs.

When Will This Error Occur?

Accordingly, the Critical Process Died error often occurs casually. It may happen in the following cases:

  • Critical Process Died after Windows Update
  • Critical Process Died when Wake PC from Sleep
  • Critical Process Died after Login
  • Critical Process Died while Gaming
  • Critical Process Died on Startup
  • Critical Process Died with Windows 10 Reboot Loop

So how to find a solution for Critical Process Died error in Windows 10/8/7 will be a vital question for those users who are having such a problem on their computers. Here the following, EaseUS will provide you with practical solutions for fixing Windows 10/8/7 Critical Process Died error with 0x000000EF code.

How to Fix Critical Process Died Error on Windows 10/8/7 - 10 Ways

If you are having a blue screen with "Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you." error message on your PC, relax.

In this part, you will learn practical fixes to resolve Critical Process Died error on your Windows 10/8/7 computers. Pick up one of the listed solutions here to get rid of this issue on your PC now:

  1. #1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode
  2. #2. Use Clean Boot
  3. #3. Run CHKDSK to Fix File System
  4. #4. Use File System Error Checker - EaseUS Partition Master
  5. #5. Run SFC Command
  6. #6. Use DISM Command
  7. #7. Update Disk Driver
  8. #8. Run Antivirus Software
  9. #9. Uninstall Recent Windows Update
  10. #10. Perform System Restore

Solution 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode

Here we'll take Windows 10 as an example to show you how to reboot PC into Safe Mode, which is a quick way of turning on Windows, prevent you from getting Critical Process Died error.

To thoroughly fix this the Critical Process Died error, you should also boot up PC first. Here are the steps to get started:

Step 1. Restart Windows 10, press Shift + F8  to bring up the recovery mode.

Step 2. Go to Advanced Boot Options and set boot mode as Safe Mode.

Reboot PC into Safe Mode

Or you can restart PC several times > Enter Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart > Enable Safe Mode.

Step 3. Save the changes and then startup Windows PC.

Solution 2. Perform a Clean Boot

After you boot up PC from Safe Mode, you can then continue to configure a Clean Boot in System Configuration.

Here are the steps:

Step 1.Type msconfig in the Search box and hit enter to open System Configuration.

Step 2. Go to the General tab, check the two boxes under the Selective startup section:

  • "Load system services"
  • "Use original boot configurations"

Step 3. Click "OK" to confirm. 

Step 4. Go to the Services tab, check "Hide all Microsoft services" and click "Disable all".

Perform Clean boot

Step 5. Click "OK" and "Apply" to save all the changes. Then restart the PC.

Solution 3. Run CHKDSK to Fix File System Error

When the system hard drive contains file system error, the computer may come into Critical Proceed Died error while booting up PC. To fix this issue, you can first boot PC into safe mode, and then follow the steps below to run CHKDSK command:

Step 1.Type cmd in the Search box and right-click Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator".

Step 2.Type diskpart and hit Enter to bring up DiskPart window.

Step 3. Type chkdsk e: /f /r /x and hit Enter. (Replace e: with the drive letter of your system drive or disk.)

Run CHKDSK to fix file system error

Solution 4. Use File System Error Checker - EaseUS Partition Master

For an easier solution to fix file system error that cause Critical Process Died issue on Windows PC, you may turn to EaseUS Partition Master Free for help. It works professionally in checking and fix system file errors with simple clicks.

Free Download 

Windows 11/10/8/7100% Secure

Here the following, you can try it to check and fix errors under Windows 10/8/7 now:

Step 1. Right-click the target partition that has a problem.

Step 2. Choose "Advanced" > "Check File System".

Step 3. Confirm if you want to hide the partition or not.

Step 4. In the Check File System window, check the "Try to fix errors if found" option.

Step 5. Click "Start" to check errors on your partition.

Solution 5. Run SFC Command

When the system file contains some error, you may also run into Critical Process Died issue on your computer. To fix this issue, you can also run the SFC command for help.

Here are the steps:

Step 1.Type cmd in the search box, right-click command prompt and select "Run As Administrator".

Step 2. At the command prompt, type sfc /scannow and hit Enter.

The SFC utility will run for a while and if any corruption or error is discovered, replace them on reboot.

Solution 6. Use DISM Command

Besides SFC command, the DISM command is more advanced in fixing disk errors. It can check and restore your system health.

See how to run DISM command to fix Critical Process Died error on Windows PC:

Step 1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

Step 2. Type the following command and hit Enter each time to check the system health:

dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Step 3.Type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthand hit Enter.

After this, exit Command Prompt and restart PC to keep all the changes. If you successfully boot up PC, you've successfully got rid of this error from your computer.

Solution 7. Update Disk Driver

Sometimes, when the system disk driver is outdated, you may also meet the Windows boot-up issue, such as the Critical Process Died error. You can try to update the disk driver to get rid of this issue with the steps here:

Step 1. Right-click This PC, click "Manage". Go to Device Manager.

Step 2. Double-click to expand Disk driver. Right-click your disk driver and choose "Update Driver Software".

Step 3. In the pop-up window, choose "Search automatically for updated driver software". 

Then, wait for the computer to search and install the latest driver software.

fix missing drive Windows 10 - update disk driver

Solution 8. Run Antivirus Software

As you may know that sometimes viruses or malware may cause system boot issues and even OS crash errors on Windows 10/8/7. Therefore, a regular way to fix this issue is to run antivirus software for help.

Or you can use Windows' built-in antivirus too - Windows defender for help:

Step 1.  Go to Start > Type Windows Defender and click to open Windows Defender Security Center.

Step 2. Click the Shield icon on the left pane, click "Advanced scan".

Step 3. Check "Full scan" and click "Scan now" to run antivirus.

Note that the steps may vary if you are using a different Windows OS version. But most operations are similar.

Solution 9. Uninstall Recent Windows Update

Sometimes, Windows users especially the latest Windows 10 users may encounter with Critical Process Died error on their computers. And the best way out is to uninstall the recent Windows update.

Here are the steps for you to go:

Step 1. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

Step 2. Click "View update history" under Windows Update.

Step 3. Click "Uninstall updates".

Step 4. Select the update(s) that you want to uninstall and click "Uninstall".

Uninstall Windows update

Then all you need is to follow the on-screen guidelines to complete the process. After this, you can then restart PC to see if the error has been removed.

Solution 10. Perform System Restore

If you run into any complex system error, you may always escape by performing a system restore.  Here are the steps to run system restore, bringing your computer back to a previous health state:

Note that if you have created some new data on your computer, remember to back up them to an external hard drive in advance. 

Step 1. Type create a restore point in Windows Search box and click the top result to open "System Properties".

Step 2. Click the System Restore button to bring up all the restore points that you've created.

Open System Restore points.

Step 3. Click "Next" and select the restore point that you want to use and restore on your PC.

Choose restore points.

Step 4. Click "Finish" to confirm your restore point and click "Yes" to execute the System Restore on your PC.

Execute System Restore.

Conclusion

On this page, we explained what is Critical Process Died error on Windows PC, and the causes of this issue. Note that as this error comes out randomly, we highly suggest you create a system backup in advance.

You may refer to: How to Create Windows 10 Backup System Image for a guide.

Among the 10 fixes that we listed on this page, we suggest you boot up PC into safe mode first. Then run EaseUS Partition Master to fix the internal file system error on your computer drive.

Free Download 

Windows 11/10/8/7100% Secure

If you are experienced in computer management, CHKDSK, SFC, DISM commands are also able to help you out of the Critical Process Died error.

How Can We Help You

About the Author

Updated by Roxanne

Roxanne is one of the main contributors to EaseUS and has created over 200 posts that help users solve multiple issues and failures on digital devices like PCs, Mobile phones, tablets, and Macs. She loves to share ideas with people of the same interests.

Read full bio

Written by Tracy King

Tracy became a member of the EaseUS content team in 2013. Being a technical writer for over 10 years, she is enthusiastic about sharing tips to assist readers in resolving complex issues in disk management, file transfer, PC & Mac performance optimization, etc., like an expert.

Read full bio

Product Reviews

Product Reviews

TrustScore 4.7 | 49 reviews
  • I love that the changes you make with EaseUS Partition Master Free aren't immediately applied to the disks. It makes it way easier to play out what will happen after you've made all the changes. I also think the overall look and feel of EaseUS Partition Master Free makes whatever you're doing with your computer's partitions easy.

    Read More
  • Partition Master Free can Resize, Move, Merge, Migrate, and Copy disks or partitions; convert to local, change label, defragment, check and explore partition; and much more. A premium upgrade adds free tech support and the ability to resize dynamic volumes.

    Read More
  • It won't hot image your drives or align them, but since it's coupled with a partition manager, it allows you do perform many tasks at once, instead of just cloning drives. You can move partitions around, resize them, defragment, and more, along with the other tools you'd expect from a cloning tool.

    Read More

Get EaseUS Partition Master

Your best companion for disk partitioning, MBR to GPT/GPT to MBR conversion,even OS migration

Free Download 

Windows 11/10/8/7100% Secure