Microsoft says goodbye to the iconic Blue Screen of Death

Updated error message contains less text, no more sad emoji, and now displays a restart percentage

Life

Microsoft is saying goodbye to the iconic ‘Blue Screen of Death’ (BSOD), the blue error screen that Windows users would see during serious crashes. It will be replaced by a ‘Black Screen of Death’ with a more minimalist design.

The company announced the change on Thursday in a blog post. Microsoft emphasized that the adjustment is part of broader efforts to make Windows more stable.

The familiar blue error message would appear whenever Windows had to restart unexpectedly due to a serious system issue. Microsoft now says it wants to simplify what users see during such interruptions. The new screen displays shorter text on a black background. The well-known sad emoji is also gone.

From now on, only the message “Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart” will appear, along with a percentage indicating the progress of the restart process.

The change comes after the major IT outage in July 2024, caused by an update from security company CrowdStrike. That incident brought millions of Windows systems worldwide to a standstill, often resulting in the blue screen.

With the new design, Microsoft hopes to provide users with more clarity during crashes. The black screen is expected to become available later this summer for Windows 11 (version 24H2).

Business AM

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