The Blue Screen of Death in Windows is never a good thing. But Microsoft is now making the screen a bit less bright and a bit more helpful.
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A new BSOD
In an update to Windows 11 coming later this year, the old BSOD will give way to a new BSOD — only with black replacing blue. Painted in a dark shade similar to the Windows Update screen, the new display will not only be simpler and more streamlined but will also provide more details.
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The black screen will reveal an error code at the bottom along with the name of the driver or other file that triggered the crash. The aim is to give Windows users and administrators the necessary details to better troubleshoot or diagnose the problem.
Rolling out
The new screen has already been available to Windows 11 Insiders for testing purposes and will officially roll out starting later this summer on all Windows 11 version 24H2 devices.
“The Windows 11 24H2 release included improvements to crash dump collection which reduced downtime during an unexpected restart to about two seconds for most users,” Microsoft said in a new blog post. “We’re introducing a simplified user interface (UI) that pairs with the shortened experience. The updated UI improves readability and aligns better with Windows 11 design principles, while preserving the technical information on the screen for when it is needed.”
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BSODs are triggered in response to a fatal system error or crash, often due to a hardware or driver conflict. Windows can’t recover from this type of error, causing your computer to reboot to clean up after itself. The current BSOD tells you that your PC ran into a problem, often identifies the source of the conflict, and provides a QR code with details on how to troubleshoot the issue. There’s even a frowning face as a sign that Windows itself is unhappy.
Other changes
Beyond getting a new paint job, the updated screen is saying goodbye to the QR code and frowning face. I certainly won’t miss the frowning face. But the QR code would sometimes point you to a web page that might help you resolve the issue. At least you’ll still be able to search for possible solutions based on the error code and the name of the problematic file.
Along with the new BSOD, Microsoft is deploying another feature designed to help with PC crashes and boot-up issues. Quick Machine Recovery, or QMR, will attempt to repair dysfunctional devices by using the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE). The goal here is to provide an automatic fix for PCs that are crashing or repeatedly rebooting so that you don’t have to spend hours trying to figure out the issue yourself.
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When a critical boot-up glitch occurs, your PC will enter WinRE mode, connect to your network, and then send diagnostic data to Microsoft. Based on that data, a specific fix for the problem is sent to your PC via Windows Update. If that fix does the trick, your PC should then be able to boot without further trouble. In an organization, IT administrators can send targeted fixes to problematic PCs without requiring physical access. For a home user, the fixes are managed by Microsoft.
Like the new BSOD, Quick Machine Recovery has been available for beta testing among Windows 11 Insiders for the past few months. QMR will officially roll out later this summer for all Windows 11 24H2 PCs and will be enabled by default for devices running Windows 11 Home. In the workplace, IT administrators will be able to fully control and enable it on computers with Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise. Microsoft also is promising additional features later in the year for IT admins who want to customize QMR.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
