Fix ERROR_DISCARDED (0X0000009D) on Windows 10/11

This error appears when Windows can't lock a memory segment that's already discarded. It's rare but real—I've seen it in legacy apps and bad drivers.

I know seeing ERROR_DISCARDED (0X0000009D) is annoying—especially when it kills your work mid-session. This error pops up most often when you're running older software (think Windows 7-era apps or early 2010s games) on Windows 10 or 11. It can also show up after a bad Windows update, or when a driver's eating memory and not letting go. The trigger? Your system's memory manager tries to lock a chunk of virtual memory that's already been marked as discardable—and it fails.

The root cause is simpler than it sounds. Windows uses a "discardable" flag for memory segments that can be safely tossed when the system needs space. Normally, a driver or app can lock that segment to keep it safe. But here, the segment is already discarded—it's gone. The locking call returns ERROR_DISCARDED because there's nothing left to lock. This usually points to a bug in a device driver, a corrupt page file, or a memory-mapped file that got zapped before the app could grab it.

Let's fix it. Skip the generic RAM reseating advice—that rarely helps here. These steps are what actually worked on my shop's machines.

Step 1: Check for Bad Drivers

This is the most common cause—especially with graphics, network, or storage drivers. Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc in Run). Look for any devices with a yellow exclamation. Right-click them and update the driver. But don't trust Windows Update alone. Go to the hardware maker's site (Intel, NVIDIA, Realtek, etc.) and grab the latest driver for your exact model.

Step 2: Repair System Files

Corrupted system files can mess with memory management. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

sfc /scannow

Let that finish. Then run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Restart after both finish. This fixed the error on a Dell OptiPlex 7050 I worked on last month—turned out a botched .NET update was the culprit.

Step 3: Reset the Page File

If the page file itself is corrupt, Windows gets confused about what's discardable. Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Performance > Advanced > Virtual memory. Click Change. Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size. Select No paging file for your C: drive, click Set, and restart. Then go back, re-enable System managed size, click Set, and restart again. This rebuilds the page file fresh.

Step 4: Clean Boot to Isolate the Culprit

If the error still shows, it's time to figure out which app or service is causing it. Run msconfig, go to Services, check Hide all Microsoft services, then click Disable all. Go to Startup and open Task Manager to disable all startup items. Restart. If the error goes away, enable services and startups in small batches until the error returns. That points you right at the problem.

Step 5: Update or Roll Back Windows

I've seen February 2024's KB5034765 trigger this error on some HP laptops with Realtek audio drivers. Check Settings > Windows Update > Update history. If the error started after a specific update, uninstall it (roll back). Otherwise, install all pending updates—Microsoft sometimes patches these edge cases.

Still failing? Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool (mdsched.exe) just to rule out bad RAM, but honestly, I rarely see hardware cause this specific code. If all else fails, check the Event Viewer under Windows Logs > System, filter by Source VOLMGR, and look for disk warnings—a failing SSD can mimic memory errors. Good luck, and feel free to share what worked for you in the comments.