Microsoft has fixed a known issue causing Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) crashes with 0xc000021a errors after installing Windows 10 cumulative update KB5021233 released in the December patch on Tuesday.

The problem was solved in the KB5022282 update released today for all currently supported versions of Windows 10.

Redmond recognized him following a stream of user reports on Microsoft’s community website [1, 2, 3] and Reddit [1, 2, 3]a week after the release of KB5021233.

The known issue is likely caused by a mismatch between the hidparse.sys file versions in system32 and system32/drivers in the Windows folder, “which may cause signature validation to fail during cleanup.”

“This update resolves a known issue that may affect the startup of some Windows devices,” Microsoft said. “They might receive an error (0xc000021a) and have a blue screen.”

The list of affected platforms only includes client versions of Windows, from Windows 10, version 20H2 to Windows 10, version 22H2.

Workaround also available for affected systems

For those unable to immediately install today’s cumulative update, Microsoft is providing an interim fix to work around this blue screen issue and reboot affected systems to boot as expected.

This requires affected users to copy the hidparse.sys file from the system32\drivers folder into system32 using the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to ensure that the file signature validation no longer fails at trigger blue screen crashes.

To apply this interim fix, you need to follow these steps:

1. You will need to enter the Windows Recovery Environment. If your device did not automatically boot into WinRE, please see Entry Points in WinRE.
2. Select the Troubleshoot button.
3. Select the “Start recovery, troubleshooting, and diagnostic tools” button.
4. Select the “Advanced Options” button.
5. Select the “Command Prompt” button and wait for your device to restart, if necessary.
6. Your device should reboot into a command prompt window. You may need to log into your device with your password before accessing the command prompt window.
7. Run the following command (Important: if Windows is not installed on C:\windows, you will need to modify the command in your environment): xcopy C:\windows\system32\drivers\hidparse.sys C:\windows\system32\ hidparse.sys
8. Once the previous command is finished, type: exit
9. Select the “Continue” button.
10. Windows should now start as expected.

Microsoft said it was “not recommended to follow any workaround” other than the one recommended on its support website.

“We do not recommend deleting hidparse.sys from your Windows\System32 folder,” Microsoft added.