This article is part of a continuing series on Blue Screen of Death errors. A Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) is the error screen you see when Windows has a major issue. It halts the PC and displays some very important information.

Depending on the error message you get, the steps you need to take are different.

Error Name: WDF_VIOLATION

This one may appear under another error name, but with a code of 0x10d.

This BSOD appears when syncing a device to iTunes.

How to Fix This BSoD

Syncing to iTunes

WDF_VIOLATION was very rare before Windows 8, but has cropped up a bunch since people have begun installing it. It’s appearing most often when syncing files from your iPhone or iPod to iTunes. Though the problem was more frequent in iTunes 10, it’s still cropping up in iTunes 11.

This is happening because you have a combination of three things: Windows 8, the driver that comes with your device, and the driver included with iTunes. The combination of all three of these is causing the crash.

To fix this, enable your iPod for Disk Mode:

1. Click the Summary tab for your device in iTunes
2. Select Enable Disk Use

You can now sync normally without a crash. This has the added benefit of letting you transfer documents back and forth as if it were a flash drive.

Selecting this will make the error go away.

FireWire Drivers

This problem is also appearing when using an older motherboard with FireWire built-in. The FireWire drivers fail within Windows 7 and cause this error. The solution is to purchase and install an inexpensive FireWire card with different drivers, one that fully supports Windows 7. Install the card and the latest drivers and you should be able to use FireWire normally.

Miscellaneous Bad Drivers

Another driver, particularly a multimedia driver, can also cause this crash and display the WDF_VIOLATION error. Run a free scan with Driver Reviver and track down the faulty driver that’s causing the error. It’s very important to keep all your drivers up to date, even the ones Windows Update doesn’t catch. Find out why it’s important to keep your drivers fresh.

More Information from Microsoft

Here’s a page on Microsoft’s website about this specific BSoD error. It’s pretty technical, but worth checking out if the above solutions don’t work.

Good luck!

Steve Horton