
The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is a rather familiar occurrence for Windows NT users. System crashes leading to the blue screen can be triggered by a variety of factors, including driver conflicts and software errors. Microsoft typically displays the cause of the crash—such as a faulty driver or error code—on the BSOD screen itself.
Recently, Microsoft released an updated official support document intended to help users troubleshoot BSOD issues in Windows 11 and Windows 10. However, the content of the guide primarily consists of generic suggestions such as using Safe Mode or launching the Help app—making it, in practical terms, of limited utility.
Basic BSOD Troubleshooting Steps:
- Remove any new hardware. If you added new hardware to your PC before the error, shut down your PC, remove the hardware, and try restarting.
- Start your PC in safe mode. If you’re having trouble restarting, you can start your PC in safe mode. See Start your PC in safe mode in Windows for details. From safe mode, you can try the remaining troubleshooting steps.
- Check the Device Manager. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager. Check to see if any devices are marked with the exclamation point (!). Right-click the device and select Update driver. If updating the driver doesn’t help, try disabling or uninstalling the device.
- Check for sufficient free space on the hard drive. The operating system and some applications require sufficient free space to create swap files and perform other functions. Based on the system configuration, the exact requirement varies, but it’s a good idea to have 10% to 15% of free space available.
- Install the latest Windows Updates. To check for updates, select Start > Settings > Windows Update , then select Check for updates.
- Restore Windows. If none of these steps help, try restoring Windows using a system restore point, or one of the other options listed at Recovery options in Windows. Choose the recovery option that most closely matches your scenario.
Advanced BSOD Troubleshooting Steps:
- Check the Event Viewer. Check the system log in Event Viewer for other error messages that might help pinpoint the device or driver that’s causing the error. For more information, see Open Event Viewer. Look for critical errors in the system log that occurred in the same time frame as the blue screen.
- Run the Windows Memory Diagnostics tool. In the search box, type Memory, and then select Windows Memory Diagnostic. After running the diagnostic, use the Event Viewer to view the results under the system log. Look for the MemoryDiagnostics-Results entry to view the results.
- Memory dump analysis. IT professionals and developers can try performing a memory dump analysis. For details and other advanced troubleshooting steps, see Advanced troubleshooting for stop or blue screen errors.
Conclusion:
For the average user, encountering a BSOD typically means simply restarting the system and moving on. Attempting to understand the root cause can be daunting. In most cases, the issue is driver-related. Capturing a photo of the BSOD screen and noting the error code can help users search for relevant solutions online.
As for advanced troubleshooting, such methods are best suited for professionals. While Event Viewer and memory dump analysis can reveal deeper insights into the failure, the complexity of these steps makes pinpointing the exact cause of a BSOD a difficult endeavor.