The Blue Screen of Death: Causes, Troubleshooting, and Repairs

Introduction

The infamous "Blue Screen of Death" (BSOD) is the ultimate nightmare for Windows users. The system abruptly shuts down, displaying a cryptic error message on a blue background, and becomes inaccessible until a restart. Unsaved data is lost, and upon restart, Windows may run for a while before the error recurs. In some cases, the BSOD can reoccur immediately and perpetually every time Windows starts, rendering the system unusable and requiring repairs via a second or rescue system.

Causes of the Blue Screen of Death

The underlying causes of a complete system crash are diverse and not always easy to identify. Windows system crashes with a blue screen are always attributed to a driver or hardware issue. It can also be a driver that is not directly related to hardware, such as a virus scanner component.

Drivers operate in a privileged mode and have direct access to main memory areas and hardware interfaces. If a severe, unavoidable problem occurs, the system is halted with a stop error to prevent damage, for instance, to the file system. In such instances, the Windows kernel displays an error message on a blue background with white text — the infamous blue screen. The system then restarts automatically.

In some cases, the message includes the name of the driver that caused the crash. While drivers supplied with Windows are rarely affected, such errors are more common with subsequently installed third-party drivers. This can happen immediately after installing a new driver or after an update.

Changes made by Windows updates can also lead to a crash, especially if crucial system functions are modified. An incompatible driver that cannot cope with these changes may then malfunction and bring the system to a standstill.

Troubleshooting BSODs

Display Errors: Deactivate Automatic Restart

By default, Windows is configured to display the blue screen only very briefly, making it difficult to read the error message. To keep the message visible for longer, adjust the configuration.

• Access the "Settings" menu (Win-I) and navigate to "System" > "About."
• Click on "Advanced system settings."
• Under "Startup and Recovery," uncheck "Perform automatic restart."
• Under "Save debug information," select "Small memory image (256KB)."

Access a System that No Longer Shows a Desktop

• If Windows crashes repeatedly and shortly after starting with a blue screen, you cannot change the setting as described above. However, Windows has set up a minimal Windows on a separate partition (WinRE, Windows Recovery Environment) during installation on the hard drive, which you can use for repairs.
• To access the repair system, turn on the computer using the power button, wait briefly until the Windows logo appears, and then turn the PC off again by holding down the power button for a little longer. Repeat this process several times until Windows starts the automatic repair.
• Once Windows attempts an automatic repair, two options will appear:

1. System restarts on its own: If the system restarts and you encounter the same situation, repeatedly turn the PC on and off until the automatic repair starts again. After several attempts, "The PC did not start correctly" appears with the "Advanced options" button. However, this button may also be visible after the first auto-repair.
2. Advanced options: Click on "Advanced options" and navigate to "Troubleshooting" > "Advanced options" > "Startup settings" and click on "Restart." The "Advanced startup options" menu appears, where you can use the arrow keys to select "Disable automatic restart after failure" and confirm with the Enter key.

Windows will now not restart automatically in the event of a blue screen, and you can read the messages. You can also use the menu to start Windows in safe mode, which can be used to rectify errors.

Use a Rescue System

Defects in the file system, an incorrectly configured boot manager, or dysfunctional drivers can prevent the automatic repair from starting and the "boot settings" from being called up. Therefore, always have a rescue system ready for system repairs.

• Ideally, you already have one if you installed Windows yourself from a USB stick. If not, create a USB stick for the Windows installation on another PC, which also contains repair tools. Use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 or for Windows 11.
• Alternatively, download the ISO file for Windows 11 directly and create the USB stick with Rufus. The system can also be used to repair Windows 10.

Prevent Automatic Reboot from the Rescue System

• Start the repair system from the USB stick. When the window with the title "Windows 11 Setup" appears (Windows 10: "Windows Setup"), hold down the Shift key and press the F10 key.
• Type regedit and confirm with the Enter key. The registry editor displays the registry of the repair system. To change this, go to the registry branch "Hkey_Local_Machine" and then to "File" > "Load structure" in the menu.
• Navigate to the "Windows\System32\config" folder on the system drive, click on "SYSTEM," and then on "Open."
• Under "Key name," enter the letter Z and confirm with "OK." This mounts the registry of the installed system under "Hkey_Local_Machine\Z."
• Go to the key "Hkey_Local_Machine\Z\ControlSet001\Control\CrashControl." After double-clicking on "AutoReboot," enter 0 under "Value" and click on "OK."
• Go to "Hkey_Local_Machine\Z" and then to "File" > "Remove structure" in the menu. Confirm with "Yes."
• Exit the registry editor and the command prompt. Close the setup window and confirm the cancellation of the installation with "Yes."

If Windows restarts now, the blue screen will remain visible until you switch off the computer.

Access the Repair System from Running Windows

• In the Start menu, click on "On/Off," hold down the Shift key, and click on "Restart." Windows will restart, and you will see the "Select option" screen.
• After clicking on "Troubleshoot," "Advanced options," "Startup settings," and "Restart," you will be taken to "Advanced startup options," and you can select "Disable automatic restart on system errors" or "Safe mode."

Prepare for BSODs in Advance

• Include the Rescue System (WinRE) in the Boot Menu: This allows you to directly start the rescue system without accessing the "boot settings." However, the hard drive must be accessible, and there must be no hardware defect. Otherwise, the rescue system cannot be started from the hard drive, and you should try the method described in point 5.
• Use the Bootice tool to create a start menu entry for WinRE:

1. In Bootice, go to "BCD," leave the option "BCD of current system," and click on "Professional mode." Under "Application objects," you will see an entry labeled "Windows Recovery Environment," but it is not displayed in the boot menu.
2. Right-click on "Windows Recovery Environment" and select "Duplicate this entry" from the context menu.
3. For the new entry, double-click on "Description" and enter "WinRE" as the new name, for example. Close the window.
4. Click on "Easy Mode" and check the settings for the new entry "WinRE." The entry after "Partition" must refer to the recovery partition.
5. Remove the tick in front of "Metro Boot Manager (win8)" from all boot menu entries. This activates the classic boot manager on a black background, which displays its menu before the operating system starts.

Repairing BSODs

Recent Windows or Driver Updates, New Software Installations

• If Windows is still starting, go to "Settings" (Win-I) and select "Apps" > "Installed apps" (Windows 10: "Apps" > "Apps and features"). Set "Date of installation" under "Sort by." The most recently installed programs will appear at the top of the list.
• Uninstall the most recently installed program(s) after a plausibility check. Programs that start automatically and use system services or drivers are possible sources of error.
• Proceed in the same way with Windows updates. Go to "Windows Update" in the "Settings" (Windows 10: "Update & Security" > "Windows Update"). Set a longer period behind "Suspend updates," for example, "Suspend for 4 weeks." This will prevent a faulty update from being reinstalled immediately.
• Uninstall the update that is causing the blue screen by clicking on "Uninstall updates" below "Related settings" (Windows 10: "Uninstall updates" link at the top of the window).
• If Microsoft has corrected the error in the Windows update, the update can be reinstalled. The set update delay should provide sufficient time for this.

Safe Mode

• If Windows does not run stable enough in standard mode, try safe mode. To do this, call up the "Startup settings" as described under point 3 or 4 and select "Enable Safe Mode." Windows will then only load the most necessary drivers, which makes a blue screen less likely.

System Restore

• Windows and some setup programs create a restore point before making major changes to the system. The prerequisite for this is that System Restore is activated.
• Press Win-R, type rstrui, and click "OK." In the "System Restore" window, the option "Recommended restore" is preset, which displays the date of the last restore point.
• Select this if the date is shortly before the first occurrence of the blue