Windows 10 Insiders Now Swapping Out BSOD For Green Screen Of Death

by Brandon Hill — Thursday, December 29, 2016, 10:30 AM EDT

Microsoft’s familiar blue screen of death (BSOD) is getting a makeover — or at least it is for Windows Insiders. A lot of upcoming features for Windows 10 have been leaking over the past few days courtesy of the unauthorized release of Build 14997 and Microsoft has of course been monitoring these developments. Matthijs Hoekstra, Senior Program Manager for the Windows Enterprise Developer Platform, teased that uber enthusiasts and tech publications had missed one big feature that was added in Build 14997:

Cool to read all the new features people discover in the leaked builds, but they missed a big change!, Huge change!. curious when its found.
— Matthijs Hoekstra (@mahoekst) December 27, 2016

As it turns out, Twitter user Chris123NT was able to uncover what Hoekstra knew all along: Microsoft has changed the BSOD to a Green Screen of Death (GSOD) for Windows Insiders. Hoekstra took to Twitter to confirm the find, writing, “We have a winner”.

Although Hoekstra didn’t confirm why the change was made, there could be a very simple reason. It’s possible that Microsoft wants to weed out bugs and crashes that occur in regular production versions of Windows 10 from the numerous crashes that can occur for Windows Insiders. Monitoring issues on two separate tracks makes sense, and should vastly improve Microsoft’s bug-squashing capabilities.

This move to a GSOD for Windows Insiders follows another big consumer-centric move made by Microsoft earlier this year when it added QR codes to the BSODs. Users could then scan the code to find more information about why the crash occurred.

Other features that have been leaked with Build 14997 include the Windows 10 Game Mode, expandable/collapsible folders in the Start Menu, and enhancements to Cortana and Windows Defender (among other things).

Tags: Microsoft, BSOD, Windows 10, gsod, green screen of death

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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