14 DAY TRIAL // The most recent cumulative updates for Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803) and October 2018 Update (version 1809) were said to cause BSODs on HP computers, and Microsoft has finally acknowledged the bug a couple of hours ago.
The company says it’s all happening because of a bad driver that’s automatically served via Windows Update to these devices.
The faulty software is an HP keyboard driver identified as version 11.0.3.1. Computers that install it from Windows Update or manually crash with BSOD error WDF_VIOLATION.
The driver is shipped together with Windows 10 cumulative updates KB4464330 for Windows 10 October 2018 Update and KB4462919 for April 2018 Update, both released on this month’s Patch Tuesday cycle.
“In working with HP, Microsoft has identified an HP driver with known incompatibility with certain HP devices on Windows 10 versions 1803 and 1809. On October 11, Microsoft removed the driver from Windows Update to reduce the number of devices affected,” Microsoft says.
“After installing the HP keyboard driver (version 11.0.3.1), via Windows Update or manually, HP devices may experience a blue screen error: WDF_VIOLATION.”
New update released to pull faulty driver
The company goes on to reveal that it has already pulled the update from Windows Update, adding that a separate patch has already been released to block the installation of the faulty driver update.
“If Windows Update has installed the HP keyboard driver (version 11.0.3.1), and you are pending a restart, do not restart your device. We have released an update that will remove the incompatible driver from your device via Windows Update. Alternatively, you can uninstall the driver manually,” it says.
If you want to find out the version of your HP keyboard driver, you can go to Device Manager (click the Start menu and type Device Manager) and then look for the Keyboards section. Expand it and if the HP keyboard driver is listed, go to properties to see the driver version. If it’s 11.0.3.1, there’s a chance it may cause a BSOD on your system.