Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA) is an operating system hardware error handling mechanism introduced with Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 as a successor to Machine Check Architecture (MCA) on previous versions of Windows.
[1] The architecture consists of several software components that interact with the hardware and firmware of a given platform to handle and notify regarding hardware error conditions.
[3] WHEA "builds on the PCI Express Advanced Reporting to provide more detailed information about system errors and a common reporting structure.
"[4] WHEA allows third-party software to interact with the operating system and react to certain hardware events.
For example, when a new CPU is added to a running system—a Windows Server feature known as Dynamic Hardware Partitioning—the hardware error component stack is notified that a new processor was installed.