Problem
After installing the Windows 7 update patch released on 13th March 2018, 32 bit installations of Macrium Reflect may cause Windows to be unable to restart. The error displayed in the BSOD is:
pagefault_in_non-paged_area pssnap.sys
We believe that this is related to the Spectre meltdown protection added in the Windows update:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4088875
Affected versions
Note: This affects all versions and editions of Macrium Reflect.up to v7.1. If you are running v6 or earlier then please also follow the steps below.
Solution
- Using another PC, Download 'removesnap.exe' and save to a flash or external drive that you can attach to the failing PC:
http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/utilities/removesnap.exe - Attach the flash/external drive to the failing PC.
- Boot into your Windows PE rescue media.
- Once started, launch PEExplorer and navigate to the drive that contains 'removepssnap.exe':
PEExplorer is launched by clicking the computer icon on the task bar. - Double click 'removepssnap.exe'
- Close Macrium Reflect to reboot.
pssnap.sys will now be removed from startup and Windows will be able to load.