The Windows 11 rollout is still in its early days, meaning most Windows users won’t have noiced that the OS’s iconic blue screen of death (or BSOD) was changed to a black screen of death for the most recent edition of Windows. The change was initially made to match Windows 11’s now-black startup and shutdown screens, but the color is now being switched back to blue–well before most users would have ever encountered it.
As reported by The Verge, the revision will go live in an upcoming update for Windows 11, which is now available pre-loaded onto new PCs, and is slowly being rolled out to existing computers with Windows 10. “We changed the screen color to blue when a device stops working or a stop error occurs as in previous versions of Windows,” the Windows 11 patch notes read.
The BSOD has been a part of Windows operating systems since Windows 3.0, when it was introduced as a way to help IT support diagnose issues that led to the crash. The most recent update to the BSOD added an oversized sad face to the crash report screen in Windows 8.0.
Microsoft hasn’t specified why the screen is being reverted to its classic blue background, but it’s likely to do with avoiding errors and miscommunications in calls with IT support workers. Besides, sometimes it’s best not to mess with a classic.
