Windows 10 Safe Mode, still BSODs with WDF_VIOLATION

I switched my M2.SSD from a Dell XPS 9570 with a dedicated graphics card to a Dell XPS 9360. Installed is Windows 10 Pro x64 with BitLocker enabled.

Now, when starting up after typing my recovery key, I get a WDF_VIOLATION BSOD. Naturally I tried to safe-boot into Windows using a Windows installation media. Problem: even when selecting safe mode, it still fails with the same BSOD.

Using the command prompt of the installation media, I can perfectly browse through all BitLocker encrypted sections. So it must not be a hard drive problem.

I already tried the automatic startup repair functionality from the recovery media. It says "automatic repair is not possible".

What can I do in this case?

Update: I was able to unprotected the device using the command line from a troubleshoot bootable USB. Still, the error persists.

I used the following command to unprotect the system drive:

manage-bde -protectors -disable C: -rp "key here"

Now I can boot into the troubleshoot command line from the USB stick without entering the recovery key and can see all my volumes using diskpart and I can even browse all my files on the C: partition.

Trying to disable encryption fully does not seem to work, though:

manage-bde -off C:

Results in:

ERROR: An error occurred (code 0x80073bc3): The requested system device cannot be found.

Which is totally strange since just seconds before it was happy to unprotect the same drive.

manage-bde -status C:

Results in saying the drive is unlocked as well as unprotected.

The problem was one of these drivers. My last act before I would be forced reinstalling Windows was to just remove all drivers which sounded unnecessary for the system bootup. And guess what, it solved the problem. I did this with the command prompt from a bootable USB stick and used the command:

Dism /Image:C:\ /Remove-Driver:<name>

The list of drivers can be received with

Dism /Image:C\ /Get-Drivers

I don't know which of these drivers was the faulty one. After being able to go into Windows, I ran Windows Update and it installed all now-missing drivers automatically.

My system seems to be in a perfect and healthy state. Apparently, the issue was not related to BitLocker.

For anybody interested, here's the list of drivers I uninstalled:

Published Name : oem0.inf
Original File Name : prnms009.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : Microsoft
Date : 6/21/2006
Version : 10.0.17763.1

Published Name : oem13.inf
Original File Name : intcaudiobus.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : System
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 11/4/2016
Version : 9.21.0.1680

Published Name : oem18.inf
Original File Name : oemsetup.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : Ricoh
Date : 12/9/2015
Version : 1.9.0.0

Published Name : oem19.inf
Original File Name : hpvyt12.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : HP
Date : 4/16/2013
Version : 12.28.0.2027

Published Name : oem20.inf
Original File Name : hpwia_oj4630.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Image
Provider Name : Hewlett-Packard
Date : 4/16/2013
Version : 31.0.1150.42326

Published Name : oem21.inf
Original File Name : hpoj4630fax.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : HP
Date : 11/11/2013
Version : 32.0.110.46548

Published Name : oem22.inf
Original File Name : hpreststub.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : USB
Provider Name : Hewlett-Packard
Date : 4/16/2013
Version : 31.0.1150.42326

Published Name : oem23.inf
Original File Name : prnms006.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : Microsoft
Date : 11/29/2016
Version : 16.0.7629.4000

Published Name : oem24.inf
Original File Name : nvdm.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Display
Provider Name : NVIDIA
Date : 5/22/2018
Version : 24.21.13.9793

Published Name : oem25.inf
Original File Name : nvhda.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : NVIDIA Corporation
Date : 5/22/2018
Version : 1.3.37.4

Published Name : oem29.inf
Original File Name : intcaudiobus.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : System
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 3/27/2018
Version : 10.23.0.1520

Published Name : oem3.inf
Original File Name : ibtusb.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Bluetooth
Provider Name : Intel Corporation
Date : 10/8/2018
Version : 20.90.1.1

Published Name : oem37.inf
Original File Name : hdx_dellcsmbext_waves.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Extension
Provider Name : Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Date : 5/29/2018
Version : 6.0.1.8454

Published Name : oem38.inf
Original File Name : dellaudioextwaves.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Extension
Provider Name : Dell
Date : 5/30/2018
Version : 1.3.2.178

Published Name : oem39.inf
Original File Name : wavesapo75de.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SoftwareComponent
Provider Name : Waves
Date : 5/15/2018
Version : 3.2.0.76

Published Name : oem4.inf
Original File Name : intcdaud.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 3/22/2018
Version : 10.25.0.4

Published Name : oem44.inf
Original File Name : lwcusb.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Image
Provider Name : Logitech
Date : 10/24/2018
Version : 1.3.89.0

Published Name : oem45.inf
Original File Name : helloface.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Biometric
Provider Name : Windows Hello Face
Date : 6/1/2018
Version : 10.0.17763.168

Published Name : oem47.inf
Original File Name : intcdaud.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 9/4/2018
Version : 10.26.0.1

Published Name : oem48.inf
Original File Name : intcdaudsgpcoffext.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Extension
Provider Name : Intel Corporation
Date : 11/18/2018
Version : 25.20.100.6323

Published Name : oem9.inf
Original File Name : intcdaud.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 12/6/2017
Version : 10.24.0.3

I was getting the same error as I was stumbling around trying to fix my wife's Dell XPS 13 after a failed update.

ERROR: An error occurred (code 0x80073bc3): The requested system device cannot be found

I kept trying to figure out WHY IT COULD NOT BE FOUND. I mean, I’m working on the device now, right? I’m making changes to it, and you’re acknowledging that I’ve made changes to it, but also, it’s not found? Huh?

The insight was when I traced it back to the specific error code in the Microsoft documentation. (Other web posts I found mentioning this error code had never had the difficulty I had resolving it.)

Here’s what it said on the Microsoft page (emphasis mine):

0x80073BC3 - 0x20009 0x80070002 - 0x20009 0x80073B92 - 0x20009 These errors occur during partition analysis and validation, and can be caused by the presence of multiple system partitions. For example, , if you installed a new system drive but left the previous system drive, connected, this can cause a conflict. To resolve the errors, disconnect or temporarily disable drives that contain the unused system partition. You can reconnect the drive after the upgrade has completed. Alternatively, you can delete the unused system partition. The requested system device cannot be found, there is a sharing violation, or there are multiple devices matching the identification criteria.

I realized that the problem might not be that it couldn’t FIND a partition. It was that it found MORE THAN ONE system/boot partition.

I remembered early on in this multi-day process that in following some fix I had found on the interwebs, I had marked a partition on a 2nd disk as ACTIVE before I knew what the hell I was doing.

I went into diskpart, marked it as INACTIVE, and this solved the problem.