Blue screen error Windows 11

Blue screen of death (BSOD) on Windows 11, also known as stop error or system crash might appear when you are in the middle of something like watching a movie or working with any application while upgrading Windows 11 to the latest version when booting Windows or simply working on your PC. And mostly windows 11 Blue screen error occurs whenever Windows detects a serious error (while booting or middle of work) it cannot recover from, and it shuts down or restarts itself to avoid any damage and gives you a message, such as “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then we’ll restart for you.”

A problem with a quality or feature update, buggy driver, incompatible software, or hardware problems are the most common ones that cause Windows 11 blue screen errors. If you’re getting a blue screen on your PC, in this guide, we’ll help you to troubleshoot and quickly fix the issue on Windows 11.

How to fix Blue screen error in Windows 11

Whenever your system crashes and shows a blue screen error the first thing we recommend to remove all external devices and restart your PC that probably fixes the problem if driver compatibility between the external devices is causing the issue.

Update windows 11

There are chances BSOD errors can be caused by issues with low-level software running in the Windows kernel. And it can be solved by installing the latest Windows updates that Microsoft regularly releases with various bug fixes and security improvements.

  • Right-click on the Windows 11 start menu and select settings,
  • Go to Windows update, then click the Check for Updates button
  • If pending updates there allow them to download from the Microsoft server and install on a local computer.
  • Once done restart your PC to apply these updates,
  • And most of the time installing the latest Windows updates fix Windows blue screen errors as well.

Windows 11 check for updates

Check Outdated Drivers

As discussed before incorrectly installed or buggy drivers can lead to system crashes. If you’re randomly getting a Blue Screen of Death message, and you still have access to the desktop, then the problem could be caused by an old driver. If the problem started after the recent Windows 11 upgrade then there are chances device drivers are not compatible with the current Windows 11 version and need to be updated.

Update device drivers

  • Press Windows + R, type devmgmt.msc and click ok to open the device manager,
  • You’ll now see the list of all your hardware listed in Device Manager
  • Here check if any device driver is there with a yellow exclamation mark (that means the currently installed driver for this device is outdated, not compatible and you need to update or reinstall the driver.)

yellow exclamation mark on driver

Let’s take the example of the display driver 

  • To update the display driver open the device manager,
  • Expand the display then right-click on the installed graphics driver and select update driver,
  • Now select the option to search automatically for updated driver software and follow on-screen instructions,
  • If a driver update is available, the wizard will automatically install it, if not, your driver is already up to date.

update graphics driver

Reinstall the driver in compatible mode

Also, you can try reinstalling the driver in compatible mode following the steps well.

  • Press the Windows key + X and Open the device manager,
  • Expand the display driver, right-click the current graphics driver select uninstall,
  • Click yes to confirm remove the driver and restart your PC

Uninstall Graphic Driver

  • Now visit the device manufacturer’s website and download the latest driver for your PC.

Here are the official driver download links for the most common drivers used on Windows PCs:

Right-click on driver setup.exe select properties, Move to the compatibility tab, then checkmark on run this program in compatibility mode for and select Windows 7 or 8 from the drop-down menu. Click apply and ok then install the driver.

Run Driver compatibility mode

Check virus Malware infection

Again there is a chance virus Malware malicious code that digs deep into Windows and gets its hooks into the Windows kernel at a low level can cause system instability that crashes Windows 11 with blue screen errors.

In such cases, we recommend performing a full system scan with the latest updated antivirus or antimalware application. That scans Windows deeply and removes the malicious code that may cause system instability.

Fortunately, there are plenty of antivirus programs out there that are very good at getting rid of these threats. One perfect example of this statement is Bitdefender, rated the world’s Nr. 1 antivirus program.

Run system file checker

If Windows system files are corrupted, or missing you might notice the system freezes, not responding at startup or suddenly Windows restarts with a blue screen error. Run the DISM restore health command with the system file checker utility that repairs Windows images and automatically restores corrupted system files with the correct ones.

  • Open the command prompt as administrator,
  • First, run DISM restore health command: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
  • Once the scanning process completes run the system file checker utility sfc /scannow 
  • This will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
  • Once the scanning process completes close everything and restart your PC.
  • That helps fix Windows 11 blue screen error if the system file corruption causing the issue.

DISM restore health command

Bad hard drive

Another cause of Windows 11 Blue screen errors is having a bad hard drive means having your files written badly on the hard drive. If you encounter plenty of reading and writing errors when copying or installing new programs, or you frequently see errors marked as cyclic redundancy checks, then you should know that a BSOD error is imminent. And you need run the check disk utility that helps fix disk drive errors.

  • Open command prompt as administrator
  • Type the command chkdsk c: /f /r /x and hit the enter key
  • Next type Y on the keyboard to schedule run check disk utility on the next start.
  • Now close everything and restart your PC

check disk errors

Run Memory Diagnostic Tool

Also, there is a chance the memory error causing the issue, Run the memory diagnostic tool that detects if the memory error causing blue screen error.

  • Press the Windows key + R, type mdsched.exe, and click ok to open Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
  • Click Restart now and check for the problems (recommended) option to start the diagnostic process
  • Wait while you Windows check your PC’s RAM for errors.

Windows memory diagnostic tool

Windows 11 Blue Screen at Startup

Now, what if computers frequently restart with blue screen error while booting Windows? In such situations, you need to boot from installation media to perform advanced troubleshooting.

  • Insert Windows 11 installation media and restart your Computer,
  • Press the Del key frequently to access BIOSsetup,
  • Here from boot options change the first boot from CD, DVD (Or removable device if you are using a bootable USB drive)
  • Press F10 on the keyboard to save the changes and restart PC,
  • Now when the Windows 11 installation screen opens skip the first one and click next
  • Then click repair your computer (refer image below)

Repair your computer

Next On the ‘Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot Click ‘Advanced options

Advanced options

From here you can click Startup Repair which automatically detects and fix the problems that prevent windows start normally. If startup repair fails then click on startup settings, restart and press F4 to start Windows safe mode and perform the above solutions.

Windows 10 Safe mode

Disable Fast startup

Windows 11 Fast startup feature is designed to reduce the time it takes for the computer to boot up from being fully shut down. But few of Windows users report, disable fast startup helps them fix the Windows 11 blue screen error on their computer. Let’s try to disable the fast startup feature following the steps and see if it works for you.

  • Press Windows key + R, type powercfg.cpl and click ok,
  • The power options window appears, here click on “Choose what the power buttons do” from the column on the left.
  • Next, click on click “Change settings that are currently unavailable”.
  • Scroll down to “Shutdown settings” and uncheck the box for “Turn on fast startup”.
  • Click the “Save changes” button to apply the changes.

Disable fast startup windows 11

  • Always keep your windows updated and Make Sure your installed drivers are up to date.
  • Turn off your computer properly, And Don’t force your PC to shut down.
  • Avoid installing pirated Software like Cracks, Activators, Nulled games etc.
  • Always use the latest version of the Intel management engine interface and keep it up to date.
  • Use disk defragment and disk cleanup regularly, you can use third-party software like Ccleaner to optimize windows and repair corrupted registry entries.

Did these solutions fix the Blue screen errors or Blue Screen Of Death on Windows 11? Let us know on the comments below.

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Steve Ballmer
With over 7 years of experience in the IT industry, I have experience in IT support, helpdesk, sysadmin, network admin, and cloud computing. Certified in Microsoft Technologies (MCTS and MCSA) and also Cisco Certified Professional in Routing and Switching.