RIP BSOD: Windows 11 could be getting black screen of death

RIP BSOD: Windows 11 could exist getting black screen of death

(Image credit: Tom'south Hardware)

Update: Microsoft is bringing the BSOD back to Windows 11 .

It could be the cease of an era: The Verge reported that Microsoft could be turning the famous blueish screen of death (BSOD) blackness when Windows xi launches.

While the acronym will remain the aforementioned in such a circumstance, the blue color for serious errors has been a part of Microsoft'due south operating system since Windows three.0 in 1990. So this would be quite a big change for the company.

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Information technology would also be a slightly strange one, given nothing else on the screen is said to be different. There will still be the same emoticon sad face, commencement seen in 2012 with Windows 8, and the QR code giving you more information on the error which debuted in 2016 will also exist present.

Only the colour is reportedly set to modify and no explanation has been given. Information technology could merely be to effort and make the screen friction match the startup and shutdown colors, although it would be odd to make an warning designed to draw attending blend in more. Another possibility is that information technology's only something to make Windows xi stand up apart from Windows 10, given the two have so much shared Deoxyribonucleic acid, and in that location are already enough of cosmetic changes afoot.

If you have the current Windows 11 preview build installed, you'll likely still be seeing blue screens, as our sister site Tom'south Hardware notes. However, our colleagues were able to instigate the change early, should y'all want to go a sense of taste of what may be ahead.

The modify, get-go spotted by @XenoPanther on Twitter, can be enabled via a simple registry edit, tested past Tom'due south Hardware.

Via regedit, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl and set the value of DisplayPreReleaseColor to 0. Restart, and the next time your PC encounters a critical error, you lot'll be seeing black rather than bluish.

If you don't take the new operating organization yet, just tin't await to give it a go, you can endeavour it correct now, assuming you lot have the required hardware. If you need help, hither's how to install Windows eleven.

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Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the spider web and in the occasional mag too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably observe him tackling his e'er-growing games excess. Or, more probable, playing Spelunky for the millionth fourth dimension.