Microsoft gives ‘black screen of death’ back its traditional ‘blue’

Microsoft is going to make the ‘black screen of death’ ‘blue’ again in Windows 11. Microsoft does not devote any other text in the update notes than that it ‘is the same as with previous Windows versions’.

Ever since Windows 1.0, the Windows crash screen has been blue, but starting with Windows 11, Microsoft decided to change the screen color to black. The update that reverts that change is now rolling out in its Beta and Release Preview channels for the OS. That means that the change will most likely not be long in coming before it comes to the release version.

Although a color is not of much consequence, this element of the interface is very old and well known. In Windows 1.0 the color was used in the background when reporting an ‘Incorrect DOS version’. In Windows 3.1, it became the background color for system crashes and the developer also introduced the data dump which helps to determine the cause of the crash. In 2012, with the arrival of Windows 8, Microsoft added the sad smiley and since 2016 there is the QR code. By the way, insider builds of Windows 10 and 11 have a green background color for their crash screens.

The black BSOD, soon smothered in the cradle