Fatal system error

In Microsoft Windows, a fatal system error can be deliberately caused from a kernel-mode driver with either the KeBugCheck or KeBugCheckEx function.

[2] 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.

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).

Instead, it displays the infamous "blue screen of death" (BSoD) and allows the user to attempt to continue.

The Windows DDK and the WinDbg documentation both have reference information about most bug checks.