Microsoft is officially retiring the iconic “Blue Screen of Death” after nearly 40 years and replacing it with a new “Black Screen of Death” as part of a major update coming later this summer to all Windows 11 24H2 devices. The redesigned error screen will feature a black background, a shorter and clearer message, and remove the well-known frowning emoticon, instead showing a percentage-complete indicator to help users see restart progress.
This change is part of Microsoft’s broader effort to improve the resilience and clarity of its operating system, following last year’s massive global outage caused by a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. That incident led to around 8.5 million Windows systems crashing worldwide, disrupting critical infrastructure, including airlines, hospitals, banks, and emergency services, and resulting in billions of dollars in lost productivity.
In addition to the visual overhaul, Microsoft is introducing a new “quick machine recovery” mechanism to help PCs that can’t restart successfully. This system will allow automated fixes to be deployed broadly during widespread outages, reducing the need for complex manual intervention from IT teams and helping users get back online more quickly.