How to Fix “This Device cannot Boot Code 10” Error in Windows

What is this device cannot boot (code 10) error?

The code 10 device cannot start error is one of the error codes that occur in Device Manager when it fails to run hardware devices such as printers, USB, or any audio device. What causes device cannot start code 10? This error is usually caused by corrupted or unspecified drivers or hardware problems.

In other words, once the code 10 error appears, it means that there are some issues on your device. Since it can happen on almost all Windows versions like Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 7, etc, it's important to fix it quickly.

9 solutions to this device cannot boot (code 10) error

If you are faced with this code 10 error, you can try the following methods one by one to get rid of it.

Solution 1. Restart your computer

Most tricky issues on the computer can be fixed by a simple restart, and so can the "This device cannot boot code 10" error. Restart your computer, and try accessing your devices again. If this basic troubleshooting way works out, you don't have to waste time on employing more advanced methods.

Solution 2. Try another USB port or hub

Sometimes, you may not notice that the USB port of your computer that you insert the hardware device into is damaged or not functioning well. Thus, when this device cannot start code 10 shows up, you should change the USB port to check the connection, or you can use a USB hub that has more reliable power.

Solution 3. Run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter

The hardware and Devices troubleshooter is a Windows inbuilt tool to help you solve various problems. You can easily access and use this feature by following the steps below.

Step 1. Press "Windows + I" to open "Settings", click "Update and Security" > "Troubleshoot" > "Hardware and Devices", and click the "Run the troubleshooter" button.

Step 2. Once the troubleshooter opens, click on "Next" to run it.

Step 3. The troubleshooter will scan and give a report to show you what needs to be troubleshooted. Select the ones you want to fix and click on "Next".

Solution 4. Update the device driver

One of the major reasons for this device cannot boot code 10 is the outdated hard drive drivers. Thus, you can update the drive to the newest version to remove this error.

Step 1. Search "Device Manager" on the search bar and click "Device Manager" from the list to open it.

Step 2. Expand the "Universal Serial Bus controllers", right-click the hardware device's driver and hit "Update driver".

Step 3. Then, select the "Search automatically for updated driver software" option from the pop-up window. Windows will search and update the drivers. After that, restart your PC to check if the issue is fixed.

Solution 5. Perform a Windows Update

Windows update is provided by Microsoft to fix some tiny system problems with the latest security patches. If you don't update the Windows regularly, you may meet the device cannot start code 10 error.

Step 1. Go to "Settings" > "Update & Security”.

Step 2. Click the "Windows Update" option and hit "Check for Updates" to install the available updates.

Solution 6. Fix corrupted registry entries in Registry Editor

The corrupted or incorrect UpperFilters and LowerFilters values in the registry tend to cause this device cannot boot issue most often. In other words, you can delete these values to eliminate the code 10 error.

Step 1. Press "Win+R" to open the Run dialog, type "regedit" and hit "Enter" to enter Registry Editor.

Step 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class.

Step 3. You will see a big list of subkeys under "Class", click on it, and right-click the UpperFilters or LowerFilters values to delete them.

Solution 7. Replace the faulty hardware

If all of the above solutions are not working, you should consider the appearance of this device cannot boot code 10 is caused by the faulty hardware. In such a case, all you need to do is to replace the device with a new one or send it to the seller for repair if necessary.

Solution 8. Restore the system to a previous point

Performing a System Restore is a reliable way to troubleshoot crashes and Windows problems including this device cannot start. (code 10). This action will bring your system back to an earlier time when your Device Manager may start the external hardware device.

Step 1. Type "system restore" on the Search box and click "Create a restore point" from the list.

Step 2. In the pop-out window, click "System Restore" to start reverting.

Step 3. Follow the instruction to complete the restore. When the PC restarts, check if the code 10 device cannot start is fixed or not.

Solution 9. Clean install Windows

If nothing above worked, there should be something wrong with your Windows OS. Since clean installing Windows may cause the loss of applications, system configuration, and personal files, it should be your last choice for solving the code 10 error.

To save your time and effort, you can refer to this post: How to Install Windows 11 from USB without losing data for a step-by-step guide on how to install Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7.

Recommended reading: How to ensure data security in the process of fixing code 10 error?

Fixing this device cannot boot code 10 error is urgent, but keeping your data safe is also of an importance. As we mentioned before, some solutions imply the risk of data loss. In order to ensure your data security in the process of solving the error, it's suggested to back up them to a different place.

Here, we recommend you use AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to directly clone the whole hard drive to another drive as a backup. This software has a remarkable edge that it can transfer all the data including system, program, application, files, etc on the disk at one time.

Here is a demo version, you can download to have a try:

Step 1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional on your Windows computer. Click "Clone" and select "Clone Disk".

Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 3. Select another drive as the destination disk, and then click "Next".

Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to "Sector to Sector clone", and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.

Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of the SSD. 

Step 5. After returning to the main interface, check the pending operation and click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.

Conclusion

In this passage, we have listed nine solutions to this device cannot boot code 10. Hope you can solve your problems after trying these proven ways. Also, data loss during the process is also an issue that needs attention. Thus, we recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional for you to make a backup.

If you keep this powerful tool on your computer, you will find that it has many bright features to run your PC better: recover lost partition, format hard drive, move files from C drive to D drive, and more.