Recovering from Blue Screen Stops

There are two varieties of executables in Windows Server 2003:

  • Kernel services that run in a privileged memory space inside the Windows Executive

  • User applications that run in unprivileged memory

For the most part, it should be nearly impossible for a User-side application to crash a system. Oh, a user app can load the system outrageously or cause it to become autistic, but it should not cause a complete loss of system services.

Kernel services, on the other hand, are fully capable of causing drastic malfunctions. Rather than risk widespread memory and file corruption, when a kernel service misbehaves, the system is brought to a stop and information about the crash is displayed. This kernel-mode stop is commonly ...

Get Inside Windows® Server 2003 now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.