A fatal system error (also known as a system

crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

, stop error, kernel error, or bug check) occurs when an

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

halts because it has reached a condition where it can no longer operate safely (''i.e.'' where critical data could be lost or the system damaged in other ways). In

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, a

fatal system error A fatal system error (also known as a system crash, stop error, kernel error, or bug check) occurs when an operating system halts because it has reached a condition where it can no longer operate safely (''i.e.'' where critical data could be l ...

can be deliberately caused from a kernel-mode driver with either the or function. However, this should only be done as a last option when a critical driver is corrupted and is impossible to recover. This design parallels that in

OpenVMS OpenVMS, often referred to as just VMS, is a multi-user, multiprocessing and virtual memory-based operating system. It is designed to support time-sharing, batch processing, transaction processing and workstation applications. Customers using Ope ...

. The

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...

kernel panic A kernel panic (sometimes abbreviated as KP) is a safety measure taken by an operating system's kernel upon detecting an internal fatal error in which either it is unable to safely recover or continuing to run the system would have a higher ...

concept is very similar.

In Windows

When a bug check is issued, a crash dump file will be created if the system is configured to create them. This file contains a "snapshot" of useful low-level information about the system that can be used to debug the root cause of the problem and possibly other things in the background. If the user has enabled it, the system will also write an entry to the system event log. The log entry contains information about the bug check (including the bug check code and its parameters) as well as a link that will report the bug and provide the user with prescriptive suggestions if the cause of the check is definitive and well-known. Next, if a kernel debugger is connected and active when the bug check occurs, the system will break into the debugger where the cause of the crash can be investigated. If no debugger is attached, then a blue text screen is displayed that contains information about why the error occurred, which is commonly known as a blue screen or bug check screen. The user will only see the blue screen if the system is not configured to automatically restart (which became the default setting in Windows XP SP2). Otherwise, it appears as though the system simply rebooted (though a blue screen may be visible briefly). In Windows, bug checks are only supported by the Windows NT

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

. The corresponding system routine in Windows 9x, named , does not halt the system like bug checks do. Instead, it displays the infamous " blue screen of death" (BSoD) and allows the user to attempt to continue. The

Windows DDK The Windows Driver Kit (WDK) is a software toolset from Microsoft that enables the development of device drivers for the Microsoft Windows platform. It includes documentation, samples, build environments, and tools for driver developers. A comple ...

and the

WinDbg WinDbg is a multipurpose debugger for the Microsoft Windows computer operating system, distributed by Microsoft. Debugging is the process of finding and resolving errors in a system; in computing it also includes exploring the internal operation ...

documentation both have reference information about most bug checks. The WinDbg package is available as a free download and can be installed by most users. The Windows DDK is larger and more complicated to install.

References

External links

Debugging Tools for WindowsBug Check Code Reference
at Microsoft Docs {{error messages Computer errors

In Windows

See also

References

External links