14 DAY TRIAL // While BSODs aren’t necessarily very common these days, or at least, not as common as they were in the Windows XP era, they still happen.
And most recently, the latest cumulative update released by Microsoft for Windows 11 devices caused such trouble, apparent due to bad drivers.
Security company Sophos says some of the affected drivers were used by antivirus software, and this is why some devices running its products could end up hitting a BSOD.
In other words, it’s the fault of the antivirus solution that your system crashes, as the culprit is the latest cumulative update that broke down the drivers.
Full fix now available
Sophos, however, has also released a fix after previously providing users with two different workarounds.
“Customers on Windows 11 running Sophos Home may encounter a BSOD/Stop error after installing Windows Update KB5013943 and restarting their machines. The symptoms involve being unable to get to the desktop after restarting the computer/shutting down powering it back on post installation of Windows Update KB5013943. This includes a Stop Error Index Mismatch message (Blue Screen),” Sophos says.
The two workarounds came down to either the complete removal of Windows 11 cumulative update KB5013943 or the renaming of the hmpalert.sys driver on your Windows 11 device.
The fix the company has released updates this driver, and you must be running version 3.8.4.46 to be sure your device isn’t impacted by the buggy update.
Sophos has also provided the following instructions to make sure you received the fix:
1 - Users will receive a Restart Required message in Sophos Home as soon as the automatic fix is installed 2 - Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers 3 - Locate hmpalert.sys > Right-click > Properties> Details 4 - Confirm the Product version is 3.8.4.46
At this point, Microsoft is yet to acknowledge the driver problem caused by its latest cumulative updates.