What does BSOD 317 (CRITICAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE) mean?

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: CRITICAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
ERROR_MR_MID_NOT_FOUND	Win32 error	Windows

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INVALID_IO_BOOST_STATE	ERRATA_WORKAROUND_UNSUCCESSFUL

CRITICAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE

CRITICAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE identifies failure during early kernel initialization. Microsoft marks parameters 1 through 4 as reserved, so a page or diagnostic tool should not assign version-independent meanings to those values.

Early-kernel context changes the investigation

Because the failure is in early kernel initialization, the useful evidence is the kernel dump, boot path, loaded boot-start components, firmware or platform changes, and the exact Windows build. This code is broader than the PnP-specific PP0/PP1 failures and does not identify a user-mode service.

What to preserve

Keep the original dump and run !analyze -v with symbols for the matching build.
Record whether the failure began after a kernel, boot driver, firmware, or platform configuration change.
Do not interpret the reserved parameters as undocumented subcodes unless a build-specific debugger or Microsoft symbol information provides that context.

References

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