Almost every Windows user ran alongside the infamous “Blue Screen of Death” at some point in his computing life. Now, after setting it to highly recognizable blue for over 40 years, the updated error message will appear immediately on a black background.
The infamous error screen change came as part of Microsoft’s broader efforts to improve the resilience of the Windows operating system following last year’s cloud strike incident, crashing millions of Windows machines around the world.
In a announcement Wednesday, Redmond, based in Microsoft, Washington, wrote:
As part of that effort, Microsoft says it is “rationalizing” what users experience when they encounter a “unexpected reboot” that causes confusion. And that means transforming into the infamous error screen.
Beyond the black background now, Windows’ new “Screen of Death” has a slightly shorter message. Nor does it come with a frowned face. Instead, it shows the percentage completed in the restart process.
According to Microsoft, this “simplified” user interface will be available on all Windows 11 (version 24H2) devices later this summer.
Also, Microsoft said on Wednesday that it was adding a “fast machine recovery” mechanism for PCs that don’t restart properly. Microsoft can “will be able to deploy targeted corrections widely” and is particularly useful during widespread outages, as it automates corrections with this new mechanism “without the need for complicated manual intervention,” the Tech giant noted.
Microsoft said this quick machine recovery will be “general availability” in window 11 later this summer.
Original issue: June 26, 2025, 5:55pm EDT
