How to Get Rid of Windows Critical Structure Corruption?

Do you think everything will be fine after updating to Windows 10? Not really! At times, you may still encounter the Blue Screen of Death error, and this Windows stop error always comes with an error code or message.

For instance, when you want to start your computer, you only discover that it boots into a blue screen saying:

Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then we’ll restart for you.

If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this error:

CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION

Today, we will just talk about this critical structure corruption error in Windows, including the critical structure corruption meaning and how to fix Windows stop code critical structure corruption in different ways.

What Is the Meaning of Critical Structure Corruption?

When you see the error code, you may be curious about the meaning of critical structure corruption. That is, you want to know if there is any hint in this error code: CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION.

When you search for this blue screen code critical structure corruption as prompted, you can find a lot of sayings, making you dazzled.

To make things simpler, we will just show you a summary that can help you understand what the stop code critical structure corruption tells you:

Critical structure corruption Windows 8/10 always occurs when there is a complete hardware failure or when a device driver is accidentally or deliberately trying to overwrite the kernel code.

Hardware Failure

Hardware failure is a difficult issue. You need to use some tools to check the related hardware. If the failure can’t be fixed, you may need to replace the original hardware with a new one.

Driver Issue

If Windows stop code critical structure corruption occurs due to driver issue, you will need to check the drivers in Windows, and then update or install the faulty drivers.

Of course, hardware failure and driver issue are the main reasons for Windows critical structure corruption. There are also some other possible causes. We will not list them one by one here.

In addition to summarizing the reasons for Windows critical structure corruption, we also summarize some available solutions to this issue.

In the following content, we will walk you through how to fix critical structure corruption in Windows 8/10. If you are still using Windows 7, the solutions are similar.

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Fix 1: Restart Windows Automatically

As mentioned in the blue screen of critical structure corruption, the computer will restart after Windows collects some error information. So, you can just wait until the process reaches 100%. After that, Windows will reboot. Then, you can check whether the computer can enter the Windows desktop successfully.

Fix 2: Unplug the External Drives

At times, if you connect external drives, like USB flash drives, external hard drives, and more, to your computer, you can also encounter Windows stop code critical structure corruption. So, just disconnect them with your PC and reboot your computer to see whether the issue disappears.

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BUT!

If you still see the Windows stop code critical structure corruption, you need to try other solutions.

Usually, you are not sure the exact cause of Windows critical structure corruption stop code. To solve this issue, we think you’d better check whether your computer hardware is failed.

You will ask that the computer can’t boot normally, how to check the hardware issue? Here, you should not forget the Safe Mode.

Safe Mode can boot your Windows in a basic state with limited files and drivers. You can operate some basic operations in Safe Mode to troubleshoot some issues on your computer. Of course, you can use it to fix critical structure corruption Windows 8/10.

There are various ways to boot Windows into Safe Mode. Even if the machine is bothered by the BSOD issue, Safe Mode is also available. See how to enter Safe Mode on Windows 10.

Then, you can try the following methods to help you get rid of Windows stop code critical structure corruption.

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Fix 3: Check Hardware on Your Computer

The computer hardware you need to check includes HDD, RAM, and PSU (Power Supply Unit).

Check PSU

To do this job, you need to guarantee that all the cables are connected normally. Especially when you have added a piece of new hardware, you need to make sure that it doesn’t exceed the limits of the power supply.

Check RAM

You can use the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, which is a Windows built-in tool, to check the RAM errors.

This post shows you some guides on how to open Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool and how to use it to test RAM: 4 Ways to Open Windows Memory Diagnostic to Check Memory.

Check Hard Disk

The commonly used way to check the hard disk on your Windows computer is to use CHKDSK.

To do this job, you can follow these steps:

1. Press Cortana.
2. Type cmd into the search box.
3. Choose Run as administrator.
4. Type chkdsk *: /r and press Enter. Here, * stands for the target drive letter.

This tool will begin to check and fix the found errors on the hard disk.

However, if the hard drive is physically damaged, you will need to replace it with a new one. You can follow this guide to replace a hard drive without data loss: How to Replace Hard Drive Without Data Loss?

While, if Windows stop code critical structure corruption continues, use the next solution to have a try.

Fix 4: Run Troubleshooter for Blue Screen

If you encounter critical structure corruption while you are downloading or installing Windows update, you can use the Windows Update troubleshooter to fix this issue.

1. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
2. Scroll to the Find and fix other problems section and click the Blue Screen option.
3. Press Run the troubleshooter.

Wait until the troubleshooting process ends. Then, you can check whether your computer can boot normally without the error of critical structure corruption.

Fix 5: Run System File Checker (SFC)

System File Check is also a Windows built-in utility that can be used to scan and restore corrupted system files. If your Windows computer comes with stop code critical structure corruption, you can try this tool to get rid of the error.

You can read this post to learn how to use SFC to solve the issue: The Detailed Information about System File Checker Windows 10.

Fix 6: Uninstall the Critical Third-Party Software

After updating to Windows 10, you should know that not all third-party programs that run smoothly on Windows 7 can run well on Windows 10. These incompatible programs can cause this stop code critical structure corruption on Windows.

However, you are not sure which software is the chief culprit. Here, we suggest uninstalling these programs:

• Antivirus software
• Virtual Drive software.
• Automatic Driver Updaters
• GPU and CPU over-clocking applications.
• Intel built-in applications for system management.

Fix 7: Perform a Clean Boot to Find the Faulty Driver

As we mentioned above, the driver issue is the main cause of critical structure corruption Windows 10/8. Thus, if all of the above solutions can’t solve the problem, you can perform a clean boot on Windows and then find the suspicious driver. Then, you can reinstall the driver to solve the issue.

This article tells you how to use a clean boot to locate the faulty driver: How to Clean Boot Windows 10 and Why You Need to Do So?

Fix 8: Clean Install Windows

If all the above solutions can’t help you solve the issue, you will need to clean install Windows. Before doing this, you’d better back up your Windows files to keep them safe. You can search for “backup files in safe mode” on the internet and select a suitable way based on your own situation.

Performing a clean installation of Windows requires a Windows installation medium. You can download the media creation tool from the Microsoft official site and then use it to build a Windows installation DVD or USB thumb drive.

After that, you can set your computer to boot from the Windows installation medium and then perform a clean installation:

Suppose that you create a USB Windows installation media.

1. When you see the following interface, press the Next button to continue.

2. Press Install now.

3. Input the product key and press Next. But, if you’re reinstalling Windows 10 and the OS has already been activated, you can directly press I don’t have a product key.

4. Select the proper Windows operating system and press Next.

5. Check I accept the license terms and press Next.

6. Select Custom: Install Windows only (Advanced).

7. Select the drive to install Windows 10 (normally, it is Drive 0). Then, click Delete to remove it from the hard drive.

8. Press OK.

9. Select the empty partition and press Next to start the Windows installation process.

10. Create a new account and set up your environment.

We believe that this method can effectively kill the Windows stop code critical structure corruption.

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Rescue Lost Files Due to BSOD (Critical Structure Corruption)

Unfortunately, if you find some of your important files are lost after fixing critical structure corruption, you can use a dedicated data recovery software, MiniTool Power Data Recovery, to restore them.

This software has a trial edition that enables you to see whether this software can find the files you want to rescue. You can first download and install this freeware on your computer to have a try.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Here is a guide on how to use this software to get your lost data back:

1. Open MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

2. Select the drive you want to recover data from and press Scan.

3. When the scanning process ends, you can see the scanned files are listed by path. You can open each path to find the files you want to recover.

You can also switch to the Type feature to find your needed files by type. Or you can use the Find feature to directly locate the target file according to its name.

4. If you discover this software can find your needed items, you can update it to a full edition. After that, you can check the files you want to recover and press Save to select a suitable location to store them.

Bottom Line

After reading this article, you must know how to deal with Windows stop code critical structure corruption. Hope they can actually solve your issue.

If you encounter some problems when fixing this issue or using our software, you can send an email to [email protected] or let us know in the comment.

Critical Structure Corruption FAQ