How To Fix Code 10: This Device Cannot Start In Device Manager

Whenever a device driver fails to load, your Windows system may generate Error Code 10 with the message “The Device Cannot Start (Code 10) {Operation Failed} The requested operation was unsuccessful.”. Getting this annoying error simply means that your Device Manager cannot load drivers due to incompatibility or corruption. The error code can appear on every version of Windows & it mostly happens with USB or audio devices. This can even happen because a time-out occurs during EHCI hardware initialization. 

How To Troubleshoot The Device Cannot Start (Code 10)” Error In Device Manager?

There are various methods to resolve “The Device Cannot Start (Code 10)” error. However, if you want to instantly get out of the loop, you can try updating your device drivers to the latest versions. We recommend this solution as it has helped out several users resolve Code 10 on Windows PC. 

STEP 1- Once you replace corrupted, incompatible & faulty drivers with the latest & right versions, you can instantly get out of the loop of Code 10. To automatically update drivers, we recommend installing Smart Driver Care. It’s one of the best driver updater utilities, compatible with almost all Windows versions and best-known for providing the latest drivers. 

STEP 2- From the main dashboard, you need to click Scan Now. 

STEP 3- This will run a quick scan with Smart Driver Care will list all the potential faulty drivers that need immediate action. 

STEP 4- You can either update the drivers individually or click on the Update All button to replace all the corrupted, damaged & incompatible drivers with the latest versions in one go. 

Now that your Windows PC has all the latest and best versions of device drivers, restart the system.

This will hopefully resolve “The Device Cannot Start (Code 10)” error without any hassles. 

Resolved: ‘This Device Cannot Start (Code 10) Error.

If you are still struggling with the issue, don’t fret; try the following methods to resolve the error code as soon as possible. 

METHOD 1- Run Hardware & Devices Troubleshooter

Follow the steps below to run Hardware Troubleshooter & fix the issues: 

STEP 1- Navigate to the Settings > Update & Security.  

STEP 2- Go to the Troubleshoot option & click on Hardware and Devices. 

STEP 3- From the next window, click on the Next to run the troubleshooter. 

STEP 4- Once the troubleshooter scans & fetches a report. Just choose the ones you would like to fix and click on the Next button. 

Alternatively, you can run the troubleshooter through Command Prompt & you can execute the following command line- msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic > followed by clicking the Enter button! 

METHOD 2- Increase System Memory

Follow the instructions carefully if you want to analyze system memory and fix the issue:

STEP 1- Launch Task Manager (Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) > Hit the More Details button. 

STEP 2- Navigate to the Performance tab & check how much Storage space is available for use. 

STEP 3- Now that you have analyzed the amount of space, the next step is to add more RAM to your computer.

Just make sure you use the exact type of memory that came with your PC. If you have enough RAM slots, you can upgrade the system memory easily. 

METHOD 3- Delete Invalid Registry Entries

Note: Before making any changes to registry we suggest exporting the registry. In addition to this if you are not sure about this you can skip this step. 

To do so, just follow the given troubleshooting steps: 

STEP 1- Open Registry Editor (Press Windows Key & R, to launch Run & type regedit > followed by clicking the Enter button). 

STEP 2- Follow the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE & choose System. 

STEP 3- Expand the System Category & double-click on CurrentControlSet. 

STEP 4- From the set of options shown, you need to expand the Control category and move to Class. 

STEP 5- Simply choose 36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} and right-click to choose the option Delete. 

If you see UpperFilters or LowerFilters entries, we recommend you delete them and close the Registry Editor. You need to reboot your system to implement the changes successfully. Hopefully, you will not witness Code 10: This Device Cannot Start In Device Manager now!

METHOD 4- Uninstall Problematic Windows Update

To delete the buggy Windows update, you need to follow the steps below: 

STEP 1- Navigate to the PC Settings & head towards Update & Security options. 

STEP 2- Click on the View update history. From the next window, you need to click on the Uninstall Updates option. 

STEP 3- Now select the update you’ve recently installed on your PC. 

Hit the Uninstall button to remove the problematic update successfully. Make sure you restart your Windows system to implement the changes. 

Video Tutorial: Fix This Device Cannot Start. (Code 10) Error

Watch this quick video tutorial to learn how to fix Code 10 without any hassles instantly.

Let us know which method helped fix the Code 10: This Device Cannot Start In Device Manager. If you know any other useful workaround, do let us know in the comments section below!