In some cases, you are likely to get stuck in the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE BSOD error in your Windows. Don’t panic. In this post, Partition Magic introduces how to solve this frustrating error step by step. You can follow it to help yourself out.
The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is an unpleasant experience for all Windows users. There are various BSOD errors you may encounter on the PC, including DPC Watchdog Violation, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, TIMER OR DPC INVALID, etc.
In this post, we’ll discuss another BSOD error -ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE. What is the ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE error? What causes this error and how to fix it? Read on to get the answers.
ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE
The ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE stop code is a bothering Windows blue screen error that is followed by a value of 0x0000011C. Once the error occurs, it indicates that Windows attempted to write to the read-only protected storage of the configuration manager.
Usually, you may run into the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE bug after installing a new hardware, application, or Windows update.
Causes of ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE
When facing the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE blue screen, you may wonder about the reasons behind this problem. Below, this post summarizes multiple possible causes of this BSOD error.
- Not enough free space on your drive
- Virus or malware infection
- Faulty or outdated device drivers
- Corrupted or missing system files
- Hard disk errors
- Hardware failure
- …
After knowing the common reasons for this BSOD error, let’s get down to how to resolve this error.
How to Fix ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE
To assist in solving the ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE error, we explore a couple of solutions based on the above reasons. You can give them a try when you are suffering from the same problem.
Solution 1: Scan Your System for Viruses
In some cases, viruses or malware may attack your system, causing the Windows BSOD error ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE. To troubleshoot it, you can run a virus scan to detect and remove potential threats in your system. You can do this with a third-party antivirus program or Windows Defender Firewall.
Here’s how to perform a full scan using Windows Defender Firewall.
Step 1: Press Windows + I to open Windows Settings.
Step 2: Select Update & Security and go to Windows Security. Then click Virus & threat protection from the right panel.
Step 3: In the next window, click Scan options to move on.
Step 4: After that, choose Full scan and then click Scan now to start the virus scan.
Step 5: If any threats are listed, click the Start actions button to remove them from your system.
Solution 2: Run SFC and DISM Scans
Damaged or missing system files are another common reason for the 0x0000011C ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE error. As for this, you can try to fix it by utilizing the SFC and DISM tools. The following are detailed steps.
Step 1: Type cmd in the search bar. Then right-click Command Prompt in the Best match and select Run as administrator.
Step 2: After you open the elevated Command Prompt, type sfc /scannow and press Enter.
Step 3: Wait patiently until the process ends. Then restart your PC and run Command Prompt as an administrator again.
Step 4: Execute the DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command.
Step 5: Once done, restart your computer to see if the error disappears.
Solution 3: Free Up Disk Space
Sufficient disk space is essential to run Windows smoothly. Therefore, make sure your hard drive has enough disk space after the Windows ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE blue screen occurs. You can delete large and useless files to release more space.
Before doing so, you may need to figure out what is taking up disk space with a space analyzer. MiniTool Partition Wizard is a great choice. It’s a professional space analyzer that helps scan your hard drive and shows details about the hard drive space usage.
Besides, this program includes many other features related to partition/disk management. For instance, you can also use it as a FAT32 formatter, disk clone software, MBR2GPT converter, Windows 10 migrator, hard drive data recovery tool, SSD data recovery software, etc.
Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard on your PC. Then follow the guide below to find and delete unnecessary files to release more available space.
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Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get into the main interface.
Step 2: Select Space Analyzer at the top toolbar to access the disk usage analyzer window.
Step 3: Choose the target partition from the drop-down menu and then click Scan.
Step 4: After the scanning process finishes, you can view your disk space usage.
Step 5: Find the space-consuming and unwanted files from the list. Then right-click it and select Delete (to Recycle) or Delete (Permanently).
If you have additional partitions on the same disk, you can try to expand the specific partition through the Extend Partition and Move/Resize Partition features of MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Solution 4: Check for Disk Errors
File system corruption or bad sectors on your hard drive may randomly result in the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE blue screen error. So, you’d better check your drive for errors. To do this, run Command Prompt as an administrator, type the chkdsk C: /r command, and hit Enter.
This command can not only help you check and fix file system errors but also locate bad sectors on the drive and recover readable information. While running the command, don’t forget to replace C with your drive letter. In addition to CHKDSK, you can also check your disk health with MiniTool Partition Wizard by following the given steps.
Step 1: Download, install, and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard on your computer.
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Step 2: Highlight the target partition and select Check File System from the left action panel.
Step 3: Select Check & fix detected errors and click Start.
Step 4: To scan for bad sectors, right-click the target partition and select Surface Test from the context menu. Then click Start Now in the pop-up window.
Solution 5: Test Your RAM
Memory (RAM) problems may often lead to computer issues, like system crashes, BSOD errors, and so on. If memory corruption is the culprit of the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE bug, try testing your RAM to see if the error can be solved.
You can easily do this with Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, the Windows built-in memory tool. For details, focus on the following content.
Step 1: Press the Windows and R keys at the same time to open the Run dialog.
Step 2: Type mdsched in the text box and click OK to open the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool.
Step 3: After that, select the Restart now and check for problems (recommended) option to test your RAM.
Solution 6: Update Your Drivers
If your device driver is out of date or corrupted, you may run into the ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE 0x0000011C error. On this occasion, you may need to update the relevant driver. To execute the operation, follow the given steps.
Step 1: Right-click the Start icon and then select Device Manager from the list.
Step 2: In Device Manager, expand all categories by double-clicking them. Then right-click the driver with a yellow warning triangle icon and select Update driver.
Step 3: In the next window, select Search automatically for drivers. Then Windows will search for and install the best available drive on your computer.
Also, you can try to uninstall and reinstall the problematic driver to repair the troubling BSOD error. Simply do this with the following steps.
- Open Device Manager. Then right-click the specific driver and select Uninstall Device.
- Click Uninstall to confirm the operation.
- Once done, reboot your PC, and then Windows will automatically install the latest version of the driver on your device.
Solution 7: Perform a System Restore
Performing a system restore is another possible way to try when the ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE bug shows up. By doing so, your system will return to a previous state where the BSOD error didn’t happen.
How can you revert the system to an earlier working state? If you have no idea, you can refer to this tutorial: How To Do A System Restore On Windows 10 From Boot. It’s worth noting that you can only perform a system restore with a system restore point. If you haven’t created system restore points before, you should skip this method.
Solution 8: Reset Your Windows
If none of the above methods doesn’t sort out the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE, then you may need to reset your Windows. It’s a great way to resolve severe computer issues. You can learn how to do this from this guide: Reset Windows 10: Remove Files and Clean the Drive.
Resetting Windows will erase all the files. Hence, to protect your data, you’d better back up the computer before the process.
Further reading:
Many blue screen errors can cause data loss. There is no exception for the ATTEMPTED WRITE TO CM PROTECTED STORAGE error.
If you find some important files missing after you fix the BSOD error, we highly recommend you get them back via MiniTool Partition Wizard. It’s a powerful and reliable data recovery tool that supports recovering deleted/lost files from different storage devices.
Get MiniTool Partition Wizard on your PC. Then apply its Data Recovery function to restore your lost data.
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Bottom Line
This post delves into the ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_CM_PROTECTED_STORAGE BSOD error in Windows, telling possible reasons and troubleshooting methods for this error. When you are experiencing the same error, try the listed ways one by one until you fix it.
If you encounter certain issues while using MiniTool Partition Wizard, feel free to contact us via [email protected]. We’ll make a reply to you as quickly as we can.