Fix: DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS Error in Windows 10

Blue Screen DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS is an annoying error for Windows 10 users. This BSOD problem is always accompanied by a stop code 0x000000CB. The bug check value and the error state that the driver or I/O manager failed to roll out locked pages after an I/O operation. However the issue occurs because of obsolete drivers, there are other factors as well that are equally responsible for the error.

The above-mentioned blue screen of death often occurs immediately or a few minutes after Windows starts. But what annoys most is that the computer reboots automatically once the device is affected by the error. In addition to the drivers, reasons like low disk space, corrupted Windows image files, faulty system files, presence of malware, bad areas in the hard disk, etc. can also lead to the DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS. So, below is the list of all the productive solutions that can help you to get rid of the BSOD –

DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS Error in Windows 10 Solutions

1] Perform Windows Update

The outdated operating system is a doorway to various bugs and problems. Microsoft often releases security or cumulative updates, preview builds with new features, etc to provide stability to the PCs running Windows. If you don’t install them on a regular basis, your device will be prone to issues like DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS. So, the best possible way to address this notorious problem is to perform a Windows update. Once you see install all the latest patches, your PC will start functioning smoothly. Let us go through the steps and see how to execute this task –

Step-1: Get access to the built-in Settings program using any suitable methods. However, the quickest one is to use the Win logo + I key combinations.

Step-2: On the interface of the app, select the Update & security tab.

Step-3: Windows Update settings page will show up by default. Shift to the right pane, click Check for updates button.

Step-4: Wait for the system to list down all the available packages, builds, driver updates, etc. Click the Download button at the bottom of the list to initiate the process.

Step-5: If any of the updates ask for a reboot, carry it out and complete the installation procedure.

Once your device is fully updated with the latest features and drivers, you will not come across any BSOD errors as such.

2] Update Device Drivers to Fix DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS

Another possible cause for the continuous occurrence of DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS BSOD can be the drivers that are not compatible with the system. This happens when you don’t install the latest version of any driver. Generally, when you access the Device Manager, you can easily find out the problematic ones. This is simply because the console displays a yellow exclamation sign next to those drivers. So, the solution is pretty clear, just locate those drivers and update them one after the other.

• Open Run dialog box by simultaneously hitting the “Win +R” shortcut keys. Input the command devmgmt.msc in the text field and click OK.
• When the console shows up, locate and right-click the drivers that are constituting trouble.
• From the menu that shows up click the option namely Update driver (see snapshot).

• This will display an update wizard with two options, choose Search automatically for drivers.
• Once the update gets over, the wizard will inform you. Do this for every such problematic device drivers and complete the procedure by following the instructions on the screen.

3] Run System File Checker

Faulty, missing, defective, or corrupted system files frequently creates several complications in the system. If at any point you have modified registry, customized Windows, or replaced certain system files, then there are high chances for the device to encounter  DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS error. So, if you are into a similar situation, instead of directly opting for System Restore, you can perform this scan. This built-in utility will thus restore the modified file from the cached copy in Windows folder and set things back to normal operation. To do so,

• Write cmd in the taskbar search and execute a right-click on the Command Prompt result. Go ahead with Run as administrator option.
• Click Yes button and give consent to the UAC prompt.
• Now, type in or copy/paste the below-given command line and hit Enter to execute its task right away.

sfc /scannow

• At the end of the scan, the tool will inform you about the missing elements. For better results, you can reboot the device and see things getting fixed.

4] Remove Recently Installed Programs

Installation of any software is always sensitive as the functionality of those apps may damage the integrity of the OS. When such a situation happens, Windows always throws several BSODs and DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS is one of them. So, if you are confronting this problem after installing any application, then uninstall it immediately. There are a couple of ways to execute it, let us see one here –

• Do a right-click on the Start icon, locate and click Apps and features option from the Win+X menu.
• This will launch the Apps Settings page.
• On the right pane, scroll down and find out the latest installed program. After you see it, select and click the Uninstall button.
• Now, to complete the deletion process, follow the guidelines of the app carefully.

5] Use Windows Security to Scan the Entire PC

Malware or virus attacks always end up in damaging the essential components of the computer. There are various means through which the PC becomes prey to malicious activities. Once adversely affected, you need to carry out necessary actions to protect the device from further damage. A general scan for viruses might not be able to restore the health of the computer. Hence, you need to perform a full scan which will inspect every item of the system thoroughly.

• Go to the system tray and click the shield icon to access Windows Security.
• Select Virus & threat protection.
• Click Scan options link on the right pane. On the following page, choose Full scan and then hit Scan now button at the bottom (see snapshot).

• As this is a full PC scan, so it will consume a good amount of time. Therefore, you should have enough patience until it completes successfully.
• Once the computer gets back to operation, you will not face DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS anymore.

6] Run BSOD Troubleshooter to Resolve DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS

To deal with the BSOD errors and stop codes, Windows provides you a built-in tool that will detect and fix the problematic areas. Blue screen troubleshooter is considered one of the best utilities that Microsoft provides for its users. Simply run it and get rid of DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS error.

• Open Start menu and click the gear icon in order to open the Windows Settings application.
• Navigate to Update & security tab on the main interface.
• Select Troubleshoot subsection on the left sidebar of the next page. Switch to the right pane, locate and select Blue screen option.
• Once you expand it, hit Run the troubleshooter button to begin the scan. The tool will start inspecting the system components and at the end will make an attempt to fix it as well.

7] Perform Memory Scan

Defective or obsolete RAM is always known for creating various troubles in the operating system including error DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS. If that is the case with you also, then you need to take immediate action to get rid of it. The most common symptom of a bad memory is when Windows fails to load or when the device makes unstoppable beeps upon startup. So, to check RAM, you can use Windows own tool by following these steps –

• Hit Win + Q hotkeys and type memory on the taskbar search box. Select Windows Memory Diagnostic from the results.
• The wizard will show up displaying two options – click Restart now check for problems (recommended) as shown in the below picture.

• The PC screen will turn into blue and the utility will start diagnosing RAM issues.
• After it gets over, the device will perform an auto reboot and upon startup, the system tray will provide the result.

Note – Do not forget to close all the running programs and save your work otherwise, the auto-restart will lose all the unsaved data.

8] Use Disk Cleanup

Continuous accumulation of temporary files, unwanted junk, browser cache, items in Recycle Bin, etc. occupies a huge amount of disk space. Lack of space in the system drive often open doors for BSODs problem and DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS is one of them. Hence, the best possible solution to tackle such a situation is to delete all the unnecessary items from the PC. In this regard, you can use the Disk Cleanup tool –

• Perform a right-click on Start and choose Run option.
• Insert the command cleanmgr, click OK and choose the drive letter that contains system files.
• From the wizard, select all the checkboxes and do a hit on Clean up system files.

• Again, select the same drive and allow the tool to calculate the amount of space it can retrieve. It will display you the size in GB that the utility can free up from the hard drive.
• Click OK to initiate the procedure.

9] Remove the Corrupted Update Files

The successful installation of updates is very important for the OS to run smoothly. Reasons like poor internet connection, lack of disk space, etc., can cause hindrance in the installation of updates. Now, this condition adversely affects the functioning of the system and throws BSOD errors. Therefore, to deal with such a situation, simply uninstall the faulty update files that you have installed currently.

• Make a combined hit of Win + S hotkeys and type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter.
• “Programs and Features” window will open up displaying you the list of installed updates. Locate the one that you have installed recently and do a right-click on it.
• Click Uninstall.
• Go through the guidelines and finish the removal of that faulty update file.

10] Repair Hard Disk to Fix DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS

Experts are with the view that continuous usage of hard disk often creates bad areas in it. The poor condition in it is not good for PCs health. Nevertheless, the good thing is you can repair these segments using a command tool.

• Press Ctrl + ALT + Del keys in one go to and select Task Manager from the following blue screen.
• Click File from the toolbar and select “Run a new task“. When a new box comes into view, type cmd and checkmark the box “Create this task with administrative privileges”.
• Click OK and it will instantly attempt to open an elevated Command Prompt. However, to proceed further, you need to hit Yes button on the UAC prompt.
• Once into the black window, insert the below command and hit Enter to start fixing the bad areas in the hard disk.

chkdsk C: /f /r /x

• This command only lets you know about the disk status and will not fix up the issue. Therefore, add some prefixes at the end of the above command – /f /r /x

Here,

“f” will enforce the command to bypass the issues from the volume.

“r” letter will make sure to trace out the poor sectors in the Hard Disk.

“x” notation will make the whole volume to dismount before going ahead with the procedure. Hence, finally, the entire command will be – chkdsk C: /f /r /x

Note – C: in the above command is the drive letter where the OS is installed. If you have installed Windows in other drivers, substitute the letter with D:, E: and so on.

11] Uninstall Apps with Same Functionalities

Each one of us loves to personalize our computers and thus install several applications. But at many times, certain programs in the system happens to serve the same purpose. This often creates conflicts in the system files while they try to execute their respective tasks. So, in such situations, you should try to uninstall them and check if this mitigates the DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS error.

• Access the Settings app and navigate to the Apps category.
• On the right side of the following page, locate and select the programs that conflict in their operations.
• Click Uninstall and observe the instructions of the software to delete it from the device.
• Once you remove them, you should not come across any BSOD errors anymore.

12] Repair Windows Image Files

Sometimes, corrupted Windows Image files are responsible for the occurrence of DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS BSOD. Fortunately, running the DISM tool will repair these files right away. To use this utility, proceed with the given series of steps –

• Launch the Run box using any of your convenient methods.
• Write cmd in the box and quickly open Command Prompt as Admin from Run Dialog by using “Ctrl + Shift + Enter” hotkeys.
• Insert the following command tool in the black window and press Enter to run the tool.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

• A scan to detect the defective image files will start in a moment and the utility will try to fix it out. The entire process will take some time to finish, so be patient enough.

13] Temporary Removal of External Accessories

If you have attached an external hard drive or other elements into your device, you are likely to encounter errors. Therefore, to prevent such conflicts, you should first detach all the external items that you have recently connected with your computer.

Once you do so Restart Windows 10 PC and then see if you face DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS error or not. If the device is functioning smoothly, try to connect those accessories one by one.

14] Restore Previously Created Restore Points

Even after trying the above workarounds you are not successful in resolving DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS error then give an attempt to the System Restore feature. It will take your device back to the point when everything was working nicely. However, to avail this workaround, you should ensure that you have already created a restore point when you were not getting the error.

• Get access to the taskbar search by pressing the combo key “Win + Q”. Once it shows up, type rstrui command and hit Enter.
• System Restore wizard will become visible on the screen, click on Next to view “old restore points” that you have previously generated.
• Once you find restore point when your system was running absolutely smoothly, you need to select it and press Next.
• After doing so, there will be a pop-up Finish, you need to click on it to start the process.

15] Reset Windows 10 to Fix DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS

This might not be a suitable solution but mostly user opt to reinstall Windows 10 completely. In case nothing works correctly then you have to “reset your system”. Now it’s your choice to remove your personal files or to save them. Below are the steps which you can try –

• Firstly you need to go to Settings.
• Click Update & security tab on the UI of the application.
• Once you do so, it would take you to another page where you would find Recovery on the left sidebar. Select it and on its right side navigate to “Reset this PC” section.
• Make a click on the Get started button under it. Please go through the guidelines carefully to finish the process.

• Now once your system gets reinstalled, you will not be getting any kind of BSOD errors like DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS.

16] Disable Auto Restart to solve DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS

Many users complain that they are unable to carry out the workarounds as the PC reboots all by itself once affected by the BSOD. This happens to protect your device from further damage that the DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS error can cause. Once the OS detects a system failure, the auto-shutdown feature comes into action. Let us see how to switch off this option so that you can smoothly tweak out things to fix up the BSOD –

• First of all, head to the desktop and do a right-click on This PC icon. Choose Properties option from the menu that shows up.
• Execute a hit on “Advanced system settings” link.
• System properties wizard will come into view displaying three sections. Go the Startup and Recovery and do a click Settings.
• Now, find out the option Automatically restart and uncheck it. Click OK and Apply buttons to implement the changes and then the device will not take auto-reboots.

17] Uninstall 3rd Party Antivirus Tools

Being a Windows 10 user, you don’t require any 3rd party antimalware solutions to protect your PC from threats. While installing these utilities, they make some changes in the registry which in return creates issues like DRIVER_LEFT_LOCKED_PAGES_IN_PROCESS. Microsoft provides Windows Security, the built-in security app to deal with malicious activities. So, you can uninstall them to prevent the occurrence of any BSODs.

• Access the Settings app using any of your preferred ways like using the shortcut key “Win+I”.
• When the user interface of the app becomes visible on the screen, click on the Apps category.
• Switch on the right pane and locate the antimalware utility that you are using from the outside source. Click the Uninstall button.
• Go through the guidelines that the tool suggests you finish the procedure.

Methods:
1] Perform Windows Update
2] Update Device Drivers
3] Run System File Checker
4] Remove Recently Installed Programs
5] Use Windows Security to Scan the Entire PC
6] Run BSOD Troubleshooter
7] Perform Memory Scan
8] Use Disk Cleanup
9] Remove the Corrupted Update Files
10] Repair Hard Disk
11] Uninstall Apps with Same Functionalities
12] Repair Windows Image Files
13] Temporary Removal of External Accessories
14] Restore Previously Created Restore Points
15] Reset Windows 10
16] Disable Auto Restart
17] Uninstall 3rd Party Antivirus Tools

That’s all!!