IMac – Windows 10 installation using Boot Camp crashes in iMac with ‘system thread exception not handled (igdkmd64.sys)’

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I've installed Windows 10 Pro in my iMac using Boot Camp but when the computer is on for 3-5 minutes, it crashes and shows BSOD with the error 'SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (igdkmd64.sys)'.

I've searched online; everyone saying this is caused by the built-in Intel HD graphics card driver but my iMac has dedicated graphic card AMD Radeon HD 6500 and the driver is updated to current version.

I followed these steps to fix the issue but still no luck.

  1. Disabled the Intel HD driver from device manager under display adapters
  2. Renamed the igdkmd64.sys from C:/Windows/system32 directory (once I completely deleted)
  3. Uninstalled Intel HD graphics software from Programs and Features.

…but each time when I restart the PC, a new igdkmd64.sys file exists in the system32 directory.

The problem is Windows Update always tries to install that corrupted Intel HD driver in the system32 directory.

I couldn't continue to do any work on Windows, because I don't know when it's going to crash.

This issue was not there when I was running Windows 8.1 for nearly a year and half, but when I installed Windows 10 its started to happen.

Best Answer

I would recommend downloading BlueScreenView or WhoCrashed to scan for minidump files and find out what caused this BSOD error. Based on the igdkmd64.sys, it's actually related to Intel Graphics driver.

carrona.org/drivers/search.php?id=igdkmd64.sys

But if you have tried uninstalling this driver and still getting this problem due to Windows forces itself to redownload and reinstall, then I would recommend you do it manually. That means go to:

downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx

find for the driver, download and reinstall manually.

Besides, in some other cases, corrupted system files are also the cause that creates this BSOD error.

Source: How To Fix System Thread Exception Not Handled Error