We'll walk you through some basic tips on how to solve a blue screen error, as well as provide resources for specific blue screen error codes.

What Is a Blue Screen?

In case you're not sure, let's first review this important Windows term.

What's commonly called a blue screen of death is technically known as a stop error or fatal system error. This occurs when the operating system crashes, meaning it ran into some issue that prevented it from running safely. When this happens, Windows displays a blue screen with some information about the problem and then restarts.

Blue screens can happen for many reasons, which we'll dig into below. Common BSOD causes include bad drivers, problems with hardware, and operating system errors.