Kernel panic

Kernel panic encountered in Arch Linux in Oracle VM VirtualBox. Linux kernel 6.10 and later provide a BSOD-style panic screen with an ASCII art of Tux and optionally a QR code leading to a Panic Report. The color differs per distribution.

Old-style kernel panic in Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" (Linux kernel 3.8), running in Oracle VM VirtualBox

An OpenSolaris kernel panic

A kernel panic (sometimes abbreviated as KP) is a safety measure taken by an operating system's kernel upon detecting an internal fatal error in which either it is unable to safely recover or continuing to run the system would have a higher risk of major data loss. The term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems. The equivalent on Microsoft Windows operating systems is a stop error, often called a "blue screen of death (BSOD)".

The kernel routines that handle panics, known as panic() in AT&T-derived and BSD Unix source code, are generally designed to output an error message to the console, dump an image of kernel memory to disk for post-mortem debugging, and then either wait for the system to be manually rebooted, or initiate an automatic reboot. The information provided is of a highly technical nature and aims to assist a system administrator or software developer in diagnosing the problem. Kernel panics can also be caused by errors originating outside kernel space. For example, many Unix operating systems panic if the init process, which runs in user space, terminates.