The most feared error screen in the world. From Windows 3.1 (1992) with its cryptic hex dump to today's modern BSOD with a sad emoticon and QR code, the Blue Screen of Death is instantly recognisable. Here is the modern Windows 10/11 version reproduced faithfully.
A full-screen BSOD will appear. Press Esc or wait 30 seconds to exit.
The blue screen was born with Windows 3.1 (1992) as a way to communicate unrecoverable kernel errors. Steve Ballmer allegedly wrote the original text. From Windows 8 onwards it acquired the sad emoticon :(, and from Windows 10 the QR code linking to the support page. In 2024 Microsoft tested a black version.
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL — driver access to protected memoryPAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA — bad RAM or driver bugWHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR — hardware CPU/motherboardSYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION — kernel service crashKERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE — kernel corruption