0X0000091E: Device Name List Invalid — Quick Fix

What's Actually Happening Here

Error 0X0000091E with the message "This device name list is invalid" means the Windows Plug and Play manager tried to enumerate a device and failed because the registry key holding that device's name list got corrupted or truncated. The system sees a malformed entry—usually from a driver that crashed during installation, a failed update, or leftover junk from a removed device. The error can lock up Device Manager or even trigger a CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION blue screen if the corrupt entry belongs to a system-critical device like the storage controller or USB hub.

Cause #1: Corrupted Driver Entry in Registry

This is the most common cause by a wide margin. What happens is: a driver install fails midway, or a device gets removed without uninstalling properly. The registry key under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum still has a partial entry with a bad or empty DeviceDesc value. When Windows tries to read that list, it hits the damaged data and throws 0X0000091E.

The Fix: Clear the Stale Device Entries

1. Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc).
2. Click View > Show hidden devices.
3. Look for any device with a yellow exclamation or marked as “Unknown device”. If you see a duplicate entry for a device that's unplugged, that's your suspect.
4. Right-click the problematic device and select Uninstall device. Check the box that says Delete the driver software for this device if it appears.
5. Reboot. Windows will re-enumerate and rebuild the name list from scratch.

If you can't see the device in Device Manager—because the error locks it up—you'll need the direct registry approach. Run regedit.exe as Administrator, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\. Expand each subkey and look for entries with no DeviceDesc value or a garbled one. Right-click that device's key and export it first as a backup, then delete it. Reboot.

Cause #2: Failed Windows Update That Tampered with Driver Store

This one bites after a feature update or cumulative patch that also shipped driver updates. The update might have partially replaced a driver in the driver store (%SystemRoot%\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository) but the registry name list didn't get updated cleanly. The result: the name list points to a driver file that's no longer valid, or the file's metadata got corrupted during the update.

The Fix: Roll Back the Problematic Driver

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Find the device that's throwing the error. It'll usually have a code 39 or code 10 alongside the name list error.
3. Right-click it, go to Properties > Driver tab, and hit Roll Back Driver. If that's grayed out, proceed to the next step.
4. If rollback isn't available, go to Update driver > Browse my computer for drivers > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer. Choose a previous version from the list. If only one version shows up, uncheck Show compatible hardware to see older generic drivers.
5. Reboot.

If you don't know which device it is, check the System log in Event Viewer under Windows Logs > System. Look for event ID 41 or 1001 with the same 0X0000091E code. The event details will name the device class or instance ID.

Cause #3: Malformed Boot Configuration Data (BCD)

Less common, but I've seen it on dual-boot systems and after failed Windows-to-Go installations. The BCD store itself gets corrupted, and when the boot loader tries to parse the device name list for a boot-critical device, it chokes. This variant usually shows the error during boot, not inside Windows.

The Fix: Rebuild the BCD Store

1. Boot from a Windows installation USB or recovery drive.
2. At the setup screen, click Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Command Prompt.
3. Run these commands in order:

   bootrec /fixmbr
   bootrec /fixboot
   bootrec /scanos
   bootrec /rebuildbcd

4. If /rebuildbcd fails, delete the BCD store manually:

   bcdedit /export C:\bcdbackup
   attrib C:\boot\bcd -h -r -s
   ren C:\boot\bcd bcd.old
   bootrec /rebuildbcd

5. Reboot.

Quick-Reference Summary

The first fix works nine times out of ten. Don't overthink it—just nuke the bad entry and let Windows rebuild it. If the error persists after all three, run sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth from an elevated command prompt to rule out system file corruption.