Microsoft blanks out BSODs on public displays with new ‘Digital Signage mode’ Microsoft has added a new Windows mode that blanks out the Blue Screen of Death on public displays after 15 seconds. Redmond designed this new “Digital Signage mode” for non-interactive displays used in public. When admins enable this mode, Windows will display the BSOD for just 15 seconds. An administrator will then need to …
"Microsoft’s announcement says that Digital Signage mode “helps ensure no Windows screens or error dialogs will show.” PCs that produce pop-up dialog boxes reporting errors on public displays will therefore also go dark after 15 seconds."
Third paragraph of the article. Couldn't be arsed to read that far before spreading your pearls of wisdom?
Fail indeed.
There's a digital sign at my local gym that shows the start bar from time to time, right across the middle of the screen for some reason.
I bet it won't detect that's an issue and the screen will keep bleating that windows is underneath... as windows has always done.
Just saw one today where a live music show had a BSOD on the giant screen behind it. The BSOD is so iconic everyone sees that and knows "Microsoft fucked up". So they want to switch to another screen that doesn't read "Windows" to people seeing it so they won't associate the failures with Microsoft.
Oh, the OS choice for digital signage actually does not matter, I've seen enough linuxes and DOS crash as well for hardware reasons. I remember several "himem.sys detected a memory error" or "General Failure on Drive" on large displays, some with only one line, from long ago. The reason why we see Windows more often is simply 'cause it is more used for those "must only run a Powerpoint Presentation 24/7" important messaging displays. Of course on hardware with the lowest spec and price needed for such a job.
it also likely means the end of The Register’s Bork column, in which we celebrate the many, many BSODs that readers have spotted in the wild over the years.
At the risk of pointing out the obvious (see icon), it seems to me that many of those articles involved relatively ancient versions of Microsoft's "OS". I think it'll take a while for the new, sanitized version to have a significant share.
So people no longer see signs of windows failing everywhere, the BSOD screen has been changed from blue to black and soon digital signage won't even show an error after 15 seconds - it'll just show a black screen and look like its off (60 seconds would probably be more reasonable - considering that the black error screen could seem completely black until you look closer and see the small white text, but of course 15 seconds was selected to minimize as much as possible of anyone but the sign maintainer seeing it).
Meanwhile, systemd/Linux will display a blue error screen on any services error deemed critical (even though the OS still works fine and you hit a key and then investigate the error).
Well played microsoft - in a few months or years, most windows installs for signage will never visibly bluescreen, but most LiGNUx installs for signage will have a chance of bluescreening.
As an aside, the Linux BSOD QR code needs an 8K camera to make sense of it. I have tried to scan one, but the scanner couldn't pick it up.
I didn't mean the Linux DRM QR code kernel panic encoder that doesn't use a blue screen.
I meant systemd-bsod from the systemd OS; https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemd-bsod.service.html
Yes, the one developed on microsoft github with the guidance of a microsoft employee; https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/28077
Picture malware altering snapshots and then triggering a problem that the user or a clueless/lazy windows support person cannot fix so that it restores a snapshot.
Which of course will be “fixed” by malware scanning of snapshots, which will grind the machine down to its knees which will make people mad about their computer being slow. Which will trigger another hardware update cycle.
Classic Windows.
What a wonderful world we live in.
Nay, nay, and thrice nay!
While definitely a useful feature for those who can't use a keyboard, the net effect of this will be to convert everybody's prose to the same deathly boring corporate vacuity that we already see from LLMs. (I ignore the fact that it will of course make shared office space a quiet, peaceful place... oh, wait, everybody shouting at once?)
Please don't be tempted to push this idiocy to Linux!
Only if done by humans.
MS is breaking Word!
There needs to be a single switch to disable all the nagging suggestions. See what Emma Thomson thinks!
See her rant! https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonie/cache/media_attachments/files/115/572/829/240/389/528/original/102d9443ad288e9a.mp4
A lot of this type of borkage or at least the publically obvious examples seems to be running XP in these parts.
Rather splendid when it is on an enormous roadside sign. The XP paddock background with some embarrassing system error dialog.
Was years before Iearnt what BSOD meant apparently not Bill nor Balmer Sucks Own **ck.
Must have been bad publicity having so many borked display screens around. No wonder MS changed the behaviour.
Now, the BOFH in me says instead of blanking it out, why not display our own ads instead? Keep the ads out of politics and keep it G-rated and no one will probably notice. And pocket the winnings.
However, certainly a number of screens on the local bus company are constantly rebooting into Linux, so the problem in this case isn't windows-specific. For this I blame System-D as it just seems to not cope with the hardware detection cycle. More specifically, can't cope with not getting the network defined. I'd give more details but I normally need to get off the bus at this point.
Considering how a lot of the digital signs and such that I've seen in shopping areas are still just running a slideshow over a normal Windows install, usually exposed when the window with said slideshow isn't centered correctly and you can see the desktop peeking out on one side, I don't think this'll change much.
I even had to create my own scripts after Microsoft DELIBERATELY crippled it somewhere around Windows 7 SP1 or SP2 - they did not touch it for servers, but they removed some command line options from vssadmin and forced a config which clears up shadowcopies after 7 days, no matter what you configure. Most importantly they removed the UI to configure it, the right-click-volume-configure-shadowcopy option which is still there on servers.
And NOW, I read "4-hour frequency", which is coincidentally my default setting from the scripts... Although a difference: Ever four hours yes, when older than two days only keep one per day, when older than 8 days keep only even days (of the month), when older 16 days keep only every fourth day (of the month). Limit is what you configured, unless above mentioned "Windows Professional and Home limit" catches you. (Another reason to use the server version of Windows...)
Oh, and I forgot to mention: This is one of the good working features of Windows, since Windows XP/Server 2003. And what does Micros~1 do? Everything else which less important unless you are 110% Marketing Public Relation Customer Experience Propaganda Department controlled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x9Vado0S7M
(but also, is the reason I imagine in later releases they made it reboot and start again anyway, which is a whole lot more acceptable than anything stuck at some kind of error prompt).
