It recently became known that Windows 11 version 24H2, which was launched earlier this month, is not going along with certain SSDs from Western Digital and SanDisk, causing the updated PCs to crash into blue screens of death. Western Digital now has a permanent solution in the form of a firmware update that eliminates the need to use registry tweak workarounds.
According to a support article on the official SanDisk website, the problem is caused by issues with the Host Memory Buffer (HMB) on some SSDs from Western Digital and SanDisk. Affected products include the following:
| Drive Name | Model Number | Firmware Version |
|---|---|---|
| WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD 2TB | WDBBDL0020BNC, WDS200T3X0E | 731130WD |
| WD_BLACK SN770M NVMe SSD 2TB | WDBDNH0020BBK, WDS200T3X0G | 731130WD |
| WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD 2TB | WDBWMY0020BBL, WDS200T3B0E | 281050WD |
| WD Blue SN5000 NVMe SSD 2TB | WDBS3F0020BNC, WDS200T4B0E | 291020WD |
| SanDisk Extreme M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB | SDSSDX3N-2T00 | 731130WD |
If you have a drive affected by the problem, Western Digital recommends updating its firmware before attempting to install Windows 11 version 24H2. The company also acknowledged that Microsoft may prevent PCs with the SSDs listed above from accessing the update without the latest firmware.
To update the firmware on your SSD, go to this page and download the Western Digital Dashboard application, which, besides updating firmware, lets you monitor your drive"s health, temperature, speeds, and other important information (it is only available on Windows; macOS and Linux are not supported). After the launch, the app will notify you that there is a pending firmware update for the installed drive.
Once everything is done, you can update to Windows 11 version 24H2 using this guide (or this registry tweak). If your system is not officially supported, check out this guide. Keep in mind that your computer might be affected by other known issues and bugs, so be sure to check them out here before proceeding.