If you have encountered Error code 0xc000021a with a blue screen of death while Windows Update is doing its thing on reboot, then here are some workarounds to get rid of this.
Corrupt Driver Signature Catalog Files
- When the systems boots up, press F8 repeatedly until you get the Advanced Boot Option Screen
- Choose the option “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement”
- If the system boots up then you most likely have corrupt driver signature catalog files. To check which drivers are not signed you can use sigverif
Corrupt Registry Entries
- When the systems boots up, press F8 repeatedly until you get the Advanced Boot Option Screen (or boot with a Windows DVD)
- Choose the Repair Your Computer option
- Open Command Prompt
- Replace the SYSTEM and SOFTWARE registry hives by running the following commands (assuming OsDrive as C:\ below but it may differ on your system):
- cd C:\Windows\System32\config
- ren SYSTEM SYSTEM.old
- ren SOFTWARE SOFTWARE.old
- copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SYSTEM C:\Windows\System32\config\
- copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SOFTWARE C:\Windows\System32\config\
- Reboot system