The Kernel Mode Heap Corruption is one of the most common Blue Screen of Death errors (BSOD). This type of crash can cause an interruption in your workflow and result in data loss. If this error keeps crashing your computer, check the tips in this troubleshooting guide to sort it out.

Why do I get the “Kernel Mode Heap Corruption” blue screen of death error?

Before we start troubleshooting, let’s take a closer look at the reasons for this error. Kernel Mode is a privileged processor mode in which the operating system code runs. In this mode, all code has access to system data and hardware. Most of the time, the “Kernel Mode Heap Corruption” error is generally caused by a corrupted or incompatible device driver. If a kernel-mode driver crashes, the entire operating system crashes, and you’ll be presented with a blue screen and the stop code “Kernel Mode Heap Corruption”.

How can I fix the “Kernel Mode Heap Corruption” blue screen of death?

  1. Update your device drivers
  2. Roll back your graphics driver
  3. Run System File Checker
  4. Perform a clean reboot
  5. Perform a repair install

1. Update your device drivers

Since a corrupted or incompatible device driver always causes the “Kernel Mode Heap Corruption” stop code, one of the first things you should do is update your device drivers. In most cases, the faulty graphics driver is the one to blame. So, let’s see how to update your display card driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then right-click your graphic card driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  5. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  6. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

If Windows says that it’s already found the latest driver for you, so no newer drivers are found, then you should consider updating your graphics driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the Kernel Mode Heap Corruption problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>. But first thing first, we recommend you send us the minidump file, which records the detail of the computer BSOD crash.

2. Roll back your graphics driver

If you have recently updated your graphics driver and the Kernel Mode Heap Corruption BSOD crash happened, then you’ve probably installed the incompatible driver or the driver files are corrupted. (To prevent your computer from such faulty drivers, we strongly recommend you use Driver Techie to update your drivers.) In this case, you’re able to roll back your graphics driver to the previous one in Device Manager.

To do so:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then double-click your graphic card driver and click the Driver menu from the top, and click Roll Back Driver.
  3. Wait for the process to complete, then restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  4. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

If the Kernel Mode Heap Corruption error still crashes your computer, move on to the next fix.

3. Run System File Checker

If there are corrupted or missing files on your system, which cause your computer to crash with the Kernel Mode Heap Corruption error, doing a System File Checker scan would help. Here are the steps:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt, type cmd, and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to launch the Command prompt.
  2. Paste the following command lines and press Enter to execute:
    sfc /scannow
    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
    DISM /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
    DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

  3. Wait until the verification is 100% complete.
  4. Restart your computer for the repair to take effect.

Check if your computer is working properly. If not, try the next method.

4. Perform a clean reboot

In rare cases, software conflicts would also cause this Kernel Mode Heap Corruption crash. To resolve this, a clean boot environment can ensure that there is no third-party software interfering with your operating system.

To do so:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type MSConfig and press Enter.
  2. From the top menu, select the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services, and then click Disable all.
  3. Now, click the Startup tab from the top menu and click Open Task Manager. Click each of the tasks and click Disable.
  4. Now, back to the System Configuration page and click the OK button to reboot your computer.

Check if the problem is resolved. If not, try the next tip.

5. Perform a repair install

The final way to fix the Kernel Mode Heap Corruption error is Windows Repair Install. You can choose to keep your personal files or remove them, and then reinstall your Windows 11. If you choose to delete all the data on your PC, so ensure that you have made a backup before resetting.

To do a repair install on Windows 11:

  1. In the Windows Search box, type Recovery and select Recovery options from the results.
  2. Then click Reset PC.