Thunderbolt NVMe SSDs will no longer cause Windows 10 blue screen of death

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Fix is in place and updates can resume

Thunderbolt 4
(Image credit: Intel)

Microsoft has confirmed that it has removed the safeguard hold that it put in place as a stopgap to prevent compatibility issues for Windows 10 users that plugged in a Thunderbolt NVMe portable SSD. The safeguard hold blocked Windows 10 updates on affected systems as they were causing several errors, including the dreaded “blue screen of death”.

Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed that users of Windows 10 devices that had at least one Thunderbolt port and a version of the driver file stornvme.sys were experiencing problems when they plugged in a Thunderbolt NVMe SSD. The Redmond-based firm quickly implemented a short-term fix by preventing affected devices from downloading updates to Windows 10, 2004 version, or Windows 10, version 20H2.

Instead of receiving the scheduled updates, users were informed that their PC contained “hardware that isn't ready for this version of Windows 10." Of course, this fix was always intended to be a temporary one, with updates ranging from being quite useful to outright essential.

Updates resumed

Now Microsoft has announced that the compatibility hold that it used to block updates for some Windows 10 devices has been removed. Earlier this month, the company released the KB4586853 preview update, which patched the blue screen of death crash issue.

Subsequently, Microsoft removed its update hold, meaning that affected users should be offered updates soon. Microsoft did warn, however, that it may take up to 48 hours before the Windows 10 updates are offered to users that previously had the safeguard hold in place.  

In addition, Microsoft also announced a partial fix for a Windows 10 issue affecting devices that contain certain Conexant or Synaptics audio components. The safeguard holds related to these issues have also now been removed.

Via BleepingComputer

Barclay Ballard
Barclay Ballard

Barclay has been writing about technology for a decade, starting out as a freelancer with ITProPortal covering everything from London’s start-up scene to comparisons of the best cloud storage services.  After that, he spent some time as the managing editor of an online outlet focusing on cloud computing, furthering his interest in virtualization, Big Data, and the Internet of Things.