The utility that we will describe today is called Driver Verifier and is included in all operating systems, including Windows XP. This program allows you to check and identify problematic ones that can greatly harm the system. The most famous problem is blue screen death.
Data about such drivers is recorded in a memory dump so that analyzes can be carried out later. So, the utility subjects drivers to so-called stress situations (tests), creating visual extreme conditions, for example, lack of memory, various locks, IRQL, IRP checks, DMA, etc., I/O control. In other words, extreme situations are simulated that should not occur during normal work with Windows, or they do not happen often. Thus, the utility allows you to identify drivers that can lead to a system crash.
As I already said, the utility is built into everything Windows versions and is on the way %windir%\system32. The utility can also be used in two versions: command line and graphical interface.
So, in order to run the driver checker utility, you need to open the window "Run" type the following command:
| verifier |
A window opens with the necessary settings, in which we select the second item - "Create custom parameters" or "Create custom settings".
Now we need to sort the contents; to do this, click on the word at the top of the table Provider. Now you can select all drivers. By the way, you don’t have to choose drivers from Microsoft.
Now you can press the button Finish, after which you will be asked to reboot the system.
So, the reboot has completed, and now the system will boot in driver verification mode. The utility will run in the background, conducting various tests. You can calmly work at the computer until the utility finishes. After work, the information file will be saved in a memory dump. Such a file is usually located along the path: C:\Windows\Minidump\*.dmp. Now it can be analyzed, for example, using Windbg, or another similar program.
If within a few days it turns out that the problem has not recurred, then we can say that the problem is not in the drivers at all and you will have to look for the cause elsewhere. In the meantime, you can already disable driver verification mode. I want to say right away that this mode greatly slows down the system, therefore, it is not recommended to work with it often.
You can disable the utility like this: in the command line, enter the following command:
That's all. I hope this article helped you in solving your problems.
Indicates a system driver that is unlikely to be causing the problem (for example, win32k.sys). In this case, a serious analysis of the dump will be required, requiring very deep knowledge and experience in this area. However, you can check your drivers yourself using the built-in operating system verification tools Verifier.exe. Although it is covered in detail in the Microsoft knowledge base article Using the Driver Verifier to troubleshoot Windows driver problems, the material presented there is presented at a fairly advanced technical level. Below is brief description actions that need to be taken to check drivers.
On this page
Getting started with the Driver Verifier
On the menu Start — Execute(or Start — Search) enter verifier and press Enter. The Driver Checker will launch. Select an item Create non-standard parameters (for program code) and press the button Next.
Select individual options from full list and press the button Next.
In the next step, check all the boxes except Simulating resource shortages and press the button Next.
In the next step, select Automatically select unsigned drivers and press the button Next. If no unsigned drivers are found, go to .
Unsigned drivers
If unsigned drivers are detected, you will see a list of them.
Drivers can belong to both devices and applications. Do not close the Driver Verifier window or click the Next Now.
Search for updated drivers
You need to check if there are updated drivers.
- If you see an application driver in the list, visit its manufacturer's website - the application may have been updated. If updated version no, you can try deleting the app (you can always reinstall it later). If the critical errors stop, that was the cause.
- If you see a device driver in the list and you are working in Windows Vista use the center Windows updates to search for new drivers. This method works well for Windows Vista because many device manufacturers work with Microsoft to make their drivers available for download. using Windows Update. In Control Panel, select Windows Update and check for updates to your device driver. If the driver is found, install it.
- If Windows Update will not offer you new drivers, visit the device manufacturer's website. Perhaps new drivers are available there. If you are having problems finding drivers, please visit the Find Drivers, Firmware and Manuals forum on OSzone.net.
After updating an application or driver, close the Driver Verifier window. pressing a button Cancel(not Next) . Restart your computer and continue using the operating system. If the critical error no longer occurs, you have resolved it by updating the driver.
Removing drivers
If new drivers cannot be found, try uninstalling the driver.
Attention! Removing drivers leads to device inoperability. After a reboot, at best, the operating system will install suitable driver from your own driver repository. If you are not sure whether to remove a particular driver, do not remove it.
In Device Manager ( Start — Search / Run — devmgmt.msc — OK) find the device, right-click on it and select from context menu paragraph Properties. Then go to the tab Driver and press the button Delete.
Checking for unsigned drivers
Attention! After checking unsigned drivers, the system may not boot (described below is how to act in such a situation).
If you do not want to remove the driver and/or want to check for unsigned drivers, in the Driver Verifier window, click Next. You will be prompted to select a physical disk.
Ready, then restart your computer. If after a reboot you see a blue screen with an error, the problematic driver has been identified and its name will be included in the error message. Enter Safe Mode and reset all driver verification options by entering Start — Search / Run team verifier.exe /reset.
If the system boots in normal mode, the check for unsigned drivers completed successfully - they are not the source of the problem. You can see a list of tested drivers by running verifier.exe .
Because unsigned drivers are not the cause critical error, you need to check other drivers.
Custom driver check
If no unsigned drivers are found or checking them does not reveal any problems, you will have to perform a custom driver check. In this case, in the window shown below, select Select driver name from the list.
In the next step, you will be asked to select drivers to scan. Don't select all drivers at once, since checking them will take a lot of time and system resources.
Therefore, the verification may have to be carried out in several stages. The step-by-step sequence for selecting drivers could be as follows:
- Recently updated drivers or those that typically cause problems (drivers antivirus programs, firewalls, virtual disks).
- Drivers not supplied by Microsoft.
- Group of 10 - 15 drivers at a time.
Select the drive on which the operating system is installed and click Ready, then restart your computer.
Attention! After checking the drivers, the system may not boot (described below is how to act in such a situation).
If after rebooting you see a blue screen with an error, the problematic driver has been identified and its name will be included in the error message. Restart your computer and enter safe mode by clicking F8 when loading. After logging in, reset all driver verification settings by entering Start — Search / Run team verifier.exe /reset.
If the system boots in normal mode, the check of the selected drivers was completed successfully - they are not the source of the problem. You can see a list of tested drivers by running verifier.exe and selecting the item in the first step Display information about currently verified drivers.
Now select the next driver group and check again.
All drivers have been checked - what next?
If the check of all drivers was successful, I have to take my hat off to your patience and perseverance. Most likely, drivers are not the cause of the critical error occurring on your system. It is possible that the problem lies in the hardware of your computer - for example, a faulty hard drive or RAM, or the power supply does not have enough power to power all devices. There may be other hardware problems that also cannot be identified by checking the drivers.
A faulty driver can cause many problems for your computer. The most common sign that drivers need updating is the Blue Screen of Death. Fortunately, this blue screen is shown to us by error codes and memory dumps, which allows us to identify the cause in a particular driver or device and update it or remove it. It becomes difficult when memory dumps and error codes do not help or the computer does not even show error codes but simply locks the system. What to do in these cases?
Built into Windows system Driver Verifier designed to test drivers by placing additional stress on system drivers and stress tests to trigger a crash. This will help you identify bad drivers in Windows.
Preparing the system for checking Windows 10 drivers
Before turning on Driver Verifier, please note that Drivers can lock you out of your own computer if you're not careful. Driver Verifier, when it detects a bad driver, will give you a blue screen; if there are several of them, then a load>load>crash cycle will form and you will not be able to start back into windows system to disable crash testing of system drivers. Therefore, we will be prepared for every firefighter, otherwise in our time the Russian “maybe it’ll give you a ride” is no longer working well. Before enabling driver verification, do one of the following:.
- Check that you can easily boot into Safe Mode without BIOS required. In ordinary words, entering safe mode must be done using the working windows table. Hold Shift+Reboot, press and hold the Shift button and click on Reboot. Try another way, install the option through Windows.
- Create a system restore point while disabling antivirus products. Open Windows search and dial Creating a restore point, select from what is offered and follow the instructions given to you.
- Create for your computer to have command line access through options when using the recovery disk.
- You can or any other data that you are worried about.
- Be sure to read my crash test at the end of the article. He will help you in case of failure, which happened to me.
Activating the Windows Driver Verifier function
Before activating the drivers, make sure you read the section above on how to protect yourself from endless loading.
- Press Windows+R and type cmd to bring up command line.
Enter the following code into the command line:
- verifier
Specify the item (for program code).
Select all options except "DDI compliance check" and "Random resource shortage emulation".
Click on the supplier column to sort. It is not necessary to select all drivers, only from other suppliers where there is no Microsoft Corporation inscription. If you are sure that the error is in any driver, then check all the boxes.
After all the settings, click Finish and you will be told that the check will be performed after the system reboots. If the checker gives you a blue screen, write down the error code, a memory dump, and restart your computer.
Once back in Windows, you can disable driver verification in one of the following ways:
- Log back in as you did through the command line and select remove existing settings.
Open a command prompt and enter the following code:
How to Fix Boot Loops with Blue Screen of Death
- I would like to note that I experienced a cyclic boot with a faulty driver. There was no error or memory dump code listed, which is surprising to me.
- After 2-4 cyclic blue screen loading, the “system restore” option was automatically launched. In which I clicked "troubleshooting" > " additional options" > "Boot Options" > "Restart". Once booted, select 4 or 5 to boot into Safe Mode. Disable Driver Verifier Manager as mentioned above.
- To avoid booting into Safe Mode, go to Troubleshooting > Advanced Options and COMMAND LINE. In which just enter the command verifier /bootmode resetonbootfail.
- Copy or take a photo to your mobile phone, before starting the driver check, all 3 above points. Don't forget to copy the link to the article just in case.
How to open a DMP file to view error analysis
- The test files are on the path C:\Windows\Minidump.
- Open format DMP files possible using
For such cases, to check how correctly the drivers work in Windows XP, there is special utility verifier.exe. Utility Driver Verifier, creates the most severe conditions for drivers, in which the probability of failure is very high, and the name of the failing driver is determined with the highest accuracy. Therefore, in case of non-systematic failures, it is useful to run the utility Driver Verifier.exe. There is no need to download Verifier, since the utility is included in Windows and is located in the directory Windows\system32
1 Working with Verifier.exe
1.1. Let's launch Verifier.exe.Start - Run - Verifier.exe:
1.3. Utility Driver Verifier.exe will ask to reboot:
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1.4. Two new parameters will appear in the registry:
-- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDriverLevel
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDrivers
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| Registry settings related to Driver Verifier.exe |
2 Test results
2.1. If in the first window of the utility Driver Verifier.exe choose "Display information about currently tested drivers", then a window like this will appear. It shows which drivers are checked and which are not. By pressing "Next", you can see other information about tested drivers:
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2.2. As a result of checking the drivers with the utility Driver Verifier.exe it is possible that the system may fall out. When an error occurs while checking drivers, system errors and . Typical error codes and explanations are given below.
0xC1: SPECIAL_POOL_DETECTED_MEMORY_CORRUPTION
· 0xC4: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION
· 0xC6: DRIVER_CAUGHT_MODIFYING_FREED_POOL
· 0xC9: DRIVER_VERIFIER_IOMANAGER_VIOLATION
· 0xD6: DRIVER_PAGE_FAULT_BEYOND_END_OF_ALLOCATION
· 0xE6: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION
2.3. Examples of dump decryption by the program :
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3. Useful links
If you suspect that any of the drivers is not working correctly or, after analyzing a memory dump, you have identified the driver that caused the error, then to more thoroughly check the operation of the drivers, you can independently check the drivers using the check tool built into the operating system Verifier.exe.
Checking for unsigned drivers.
verifier and press Enter.
2) Select an item and press the button Next.
and press the button Next.
Simulating resource shortages and press the button Next.
Automatically select unsigned drivers and press the button Next.
If unsigned drivers are detected, the system will display you a list of them, which will indicate the driver files and their description. Moreover, the found drivers can belong to both devices and applications. Do not close the Driver Verifier window or press any buttons yet.
Option 1: Update the program or driver.
6) Visit the website of the device manufacturer or program author and download a newer version.
7) Reinstall the program or update the driver.
8) After updating the application or driver, close the Driver Verifier window by clicking Cancel.
9) Restart your computer and continue using the operating system.
If the system does not experience errors associated with this driver, then updating the driver or program has eliminated it.
Option 2: Uninstall the program or driver.
6.1) Uninstall the program that owns this driver.
6.1.1) Open Control PanelAll Control Panel ItemsPrograms and Features and uninstall the application that owns the driver.
Before uninstalling the program, make sure that you have it installation disk or its installation is saved on your disk.
6.2) Uninstall the driver in Device Manager.
6.2.1) In the menu Start right click on Computer and select Properties.
6.2.2) Click on the list on the left on device Manager.
6.2.3) B Device Manager find the device, right-click on it and select from the context menu Properties.
6.2.4) Go to the tab Driver and press the button Delete.
7) After uninstalling the application or driver, close the Driver Verifier window by clicking Cancel.
8) Restart your computer and continue working in the operating system.
If the system does not experience errors associated with this driver, then uninstalling the driver or program has eliminated it.
Option 3: Checking for unsigned drivers.
Attention! After checking for unsigned drivers, the system may not boot (before proceeding to further actions, read this option to the end).
6) Click the button Ready and restart your computer.
7) Restart your computer
8) Before the start Windows startup press the F8 key. When the drive selection window appears: select the drive on which you have Windows installed, press Enter, and then immediately F8.
9) Select an item Safe Mode
10) Open the dialog menu Execute: Start ->
11) Enter the command verifier.exe /reset and press Enter.
If the system boots in normal mode, the check for unsigned drivers is completed successfully - they are not the source of the problem.
Checking signed drivers.
1) In the Start menu search bar, enter verifier and press Enter.
2) Select an item Create non-standard parameters (for program code) and press the button Next.
3) Set the switch to Select individual parameters from a complete list and press the button Next.
4) Check all the boxes except the checkbox Simulating resource shortages and press the button Next.
5) Set the switch to Select driver name from the list and press the button Next.
6) Click on the column header Supplier to sort drivers by their vendor.
7) Select the first 10-15 drivers by checking the boxes next to them in the column Check.
Do not select all drivers at once, as checking them will take a lot of time and system resources.
8) Click the button Ready and restart your computer. If the system boots in normal mode, the check of the selected drivers was completed successfully - they are not the source of the problem. In this case, repeat the steps described above, selecting the next 10-15 drivers.
If after a reboot a blue screen with an error appears, the problematic driver has been identified - its name will be included in the error message. In this case:
1) Restart your computer
2) Before Windows starts, press the F8 key. When the drive selection window appears: select the drive on which you have Windows installed, press Enter, and then immediately F8.
3) Select an item Safe Mode
4) Open the dialog menu Execute: Start -> Run or press Win+R combination
5) Enter the command verifier.exe /reset and press Enter. If the check of all drivers completed successfully, then most likely the drivers are not the cause of the critical error occurring on your system.
