Later, Windows 10 (2016) added a QR code so you can use your phone to quickly jump to the support page instead of scratching the error message. (Then maybe restart, when you realize that this doesn’t help.) Then there’s Windows 11 (2021), which briefly covers the dramatic visual changes to BSOD Black, matching the system’s login and shutdown screens. This was then restored, perhaps in response to the pain of bewildered users and support desk engineers.
So, what’s the difference this time?
Back to Black: Why Microsoft abandons blue
In 2024, an explosion of multi-volume updates made countless PCs unusable, shooting down airlines, railways, banks, TV stations, and more. What do they have in common? All proudly showcase the blue screen of death. It’s not hard to imagine Microsoft trying to keep itself away from that image by making it collide with the screen that’s iconic, memorable, less iconic Reliablenot obvious.
Not that Microsoft would say that. Officially, the new crash screen is part of a wider Windows resilience program designed to make Windows more resilient. Redesigned specifically for clarity and simplicity. According to David Weston, vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, it “improves readability and better aligns with Windows 11’s design principles, while keeping technical information on the screen for when it is needed.”
Arguably, there is an added bonus: removing all the different visuals from the Windows Crash screen can make Apple less fun. So, no longer sneakily add bsod color, then :(to the Macos PC icon. It’s really sad face.
Feeling Blue: Microsoft may regret changing
But before Wired suggests that Black is a good idea for everyone (including Windows Lock screens), let’s ask: Should Microsoft consider it like 2021?
Whistling color theory books will tell you that blue is widely considered positive, just throughout the culture. This is the most popular shade and is associated with calmness, tranquility and ability. It’s the shadow of the sky and the sea – “everything can be fine”. In contrast, black is absent color. It’s cold. Ominous. Void.
More importantly, the blue screen of death is Recognizable. You can find it throughout the room and immediately know that some of the problems are already very wrong. However, the black crash screen has the potential to mix with the updated screen. And, what you absolutely don’t want to do is to make the user confuse both in any way. As the commenter’s Wired found, “You won’t change the color of the signposts, so why equal computers?”
Whatever the reason – constituting a negative image, uniform design, simplifying the experience or just changing for it – the blue screen of death borrowing time. Still, the BSOD acronym will certainly continue, as Microsoft’s “accidental restart screen” term won’t last. That’s not a name; it’s an euphemism.
Regardless of its tone, black or blue, it will always be a screen of death. BSOD is dead. Long live BSOD.
