How to Fix: Windows 10 Freeze / Lock-Up / Crash

During the recent update most Windows 10 users noticed system freezes and crashes from time to time. Some users have their PC freeze every 5 minutes, others for every 20 minutes.

This guide will help you fix all Windows 10 freeze or lock-up or crash related issues.

Please follow these steps from start to end, and if this article helped you please share it with your friends.

Check the Official Constructor Website for Drivers

Sometimes the problem can occur when you are using a very new graphics card driver, so you might as well try to install an old version of your GPU driver, this may solve the issue of freezing screen.

Optimize Power Options to Fix Windows 10 Lock-up

Most causes of having a Windows 10 that is freezing from time to time are related to the hard disk and power options.

If you are using an SSD drive then there is a chance that Windows 10 is stopping the hard drive from time to time to save some energy, causing your system to freeze or sometimes crash. This was fixed in latest builds of Windows 10 but some users have the Windows Update disabled hence they are still having system freezes from time to time.

Right-click on Start or tap Windows+X then choose “Power Options“.

Click on “Additional power settings“.

Click on “Change plan settings” on the enabled plan.

Click on “Change advanced power settings“.

Go to “Hard disk” > “Turn off hard disk after” and put the value 0, you should see the setting value of “Never” after you click away.

Now we have one more thing to change, don’t close the window yet…

Go to “PCI Express” > “Link State Power Management” and disable it by choosing the setting “Off“.

Click “Apply” and “OK” to save changes. You will need a system restart for changes to take effect.

Run a Memory Check to Fix Windows 10 Crashes

This fix will help you check for memory problems, it will require a restart to perform a RAM check. This tool is called “Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool” and will help you scan for RAM related issues.

Press Windows+R to open Run and type in the command mdsched.exe. Click “OK“.

Click “Restart now and check for problems (recommended)” if you want to scan right away.

If you want the check to run next time you start your computer click “Check for problems the next time I start my computer“.

Next time you restart your computer a blue screen will show you the progress and number of passes ran to check your memory.

If you don’t see any errors here, your memory card probably isn’t the problem.

Reset Virtual Memory to Fix Windows Freeze

Virtual memory is basically an extension of your computer’s physical memory. It is a combination of RAM and a portion of your hard drive. If your computer runs out of RAM when performing an intensive task, Windows will dip into virtual memory for temporary file storage.

When your system runs out of RAM when doing intensive tasks, Windows 10 uses the virtual memory for temporary file storage. We can say that virtual memory serves as an extension of your computer’s physical memory (RAM).

Press Windows+Pause to open the System window. You can also find System under the right-click start menu (Windows+X).

Click on “Advanced system settings” on the left pane.

Go to the “Advanced” tab, then click on “Settings” under Performance.

Go to the “Advanced“ tab again, and choose “Change…“ in the Virtual memory section.

Uncheck the box “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives“.

Select your Windows drive (usually C:), and enter an Initial size and Maximum size for your virtual memory:

• Initial size: Enter the number that is in the Recommended field.
• Maximum size: Enter the amount of RAM you have multiplied by “1.5”, I have 8GB of RAM, so the value I entered is 8000*1.5=12000.

Then click “Set” and click “OK“ to continue. 

You will need a restart for this to take effect.

Clear Temp Directory

Open Run command prompt using the Windows+R key combination, type in the command temp and click “OK“.

Select all the files in the Temp using CTRL+A and remove all using SHIFT+DEL.

Run a Disk Check

As I said earlier in this guide, most Windows crashes and freezes are related to hard disk issues, performing a disk check is a must.

Open the Windows Explorer using the Windows+E key combination and open “My PC“. Then right-click on your Windows drive (usually C:) and choose “Properties“.

Open the tab “Tools” and click on the button “Check“.

Click on “Scan drive“.

Waite for a couple of minutes…

Once the scan is finished… you should see this message: Your drive was successfully scanned

Run System File Checker

Right-click on Start and choose “Command Prompt (Admin)“. Otherwise search for CMD on Start and right-click and Run as administrator.  If prompted to provide administrator permission, click “Yes“.

Type in the black command prompt window the following command:

sfc /scannow

Press Enter on your keyboard.

Windows will scan your system for corrupted files, and attempt to fix any it finds. The results will display in this window, so please leave it open until the operation is complete.

Registry Fix if You Don’t Use Windows Store

This fix is for those that haven’t noticed any difference doing earlier fixes, it will basically disable some Windows Store related processes. If you don’t use Windows Store apps this may be the fix for your Windows 10 freezing issues.

Open Run using the key combination Windows+R and type in “regedit“, click “OK“.

In the Registry Editor navigate to this path and double-click on “Start” value on the right side of the window.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet001 -> Services -> AppXSvc

Right-click on Start and Modify it.

The default value is 3, enter the value 4 instead. Click “OK“.

You will need to restart your computer to see the difference.

Chkdsk to the Rescue!

If you think your hard disk is the issue of your system freezing issue, here is a hidden feature that will allow you to fix any hard disk related errors.

Open Command Prompt as administrator.

Type in the following command and confirm with y:

chkdsk /f

Restart your computer, you should see a screen like this: Scanning and repairing drive (C:): X% complete

You should notice some system improvement after this method.

Turn-Off Fast Startup

If the system is still freezing, it’s time to turn off Fast Startup for it causes lot of drivers not to load accordingly.

Right-click on Start and choose “Power Options“.

Click on “Choose what the power buttons do“.

Click on “Change settings that are currently unavailable” and uncheck “Turn on fast startup (recommended)“. Click “Save changes“.

There you have it my friend!

I hope this guide helped you fix all your Windows 10 freeze or lock-up problems. Please share it with your friends to support this website and motivate me to share more fixes! Thanks