Microsoft confirms Thunderbolt NVMe SSD problem in Windows 10 v2004/20H2

Microsoft has earlier released the Windows 10 20H2 RTM version, but currently, Microsoft is gradually suspending the push of this version in order to collect data and troubleshoot problems.

Microsoft did not explain why the push of the new version was suspended. Microsoft only said that many users have already upgraded and can use telemetry data to monitor the operation.

What’s interesting is that Microsoft has really found a compatibility problem, which will only affect a very small number of users, but if users encounter it, they will directly trigger the blue screen of death.

The company stated in the latest support announcement that if your device comes with a Thunderbolt interface, you should avoid using it with NVMe SSD.

Because Windows 10 20H2 encounters an NVMe solid-state drive connected through the Thunderbolt interface, it will directly blue screen of death. This problem is also caused by the driver.

If the user sees the blue screen of death, it means that this is the problem. The trigger rate of the problem is almost 100%, so it will affect the user’s use.

Microsoft writes:

An incompatibility issue has been found with Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows 10, version 20H2 when using an Thunderbolt NVMe Solid State Disk (SSD). On affected devices, when plugging in a Thunderbolt NVMe SSD you might receive a stop error with a blue screen and “DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION (e6) An illegal DMA operation was attempted by a driver being verified.” Affected Windows 10 devices will have at least one Thunderbolt port and any currently available version of the driver file stornvme.sys.

At present, Microsoft has contacted Intel to investigate the Thunderbolt interface driver to see where the problem is caused in order to release a new driver for repair.

Of course, it should be emphasized that this problem only occurs when the Thunderbolt interface is combined with the NVMe SSD. Connecting the Thunderbolt interface to other hard drives will not cause a blue screen.

So if you need to use a mobile hard drive, you can continue to use the Thunderbolt interface with confidence, as long as the mobile hard drive is not an NVMe SSD solid-state drive, that’s fine.