Kernel Panic Screen Saver!
So awhile back I was thinking, “You know what would be funny? A screen saver that fakes a kernel panic!”
For those of you who might never have seen one, a kernel panic is basically the most shocking crash that you can get on a Mac. It’s Apple’s equivalent to the famed Blue Screen of Death.
What a great way to play a prank on someone, or frighten yourself.
So here is the end result, a harmless screen saver that faithfully emulates the horrifying experience of a kernel panic. It comes complete with a misleading Quartz Composer Preview so that the effect is all the more terrifying.
Update: KPSaver is now 64-bit and compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and above. Legacy users can download the old version here.
If you enjoy KPSaver, please consider supporting it with a PayPal donation.
Enjoy KPSaver? You might find our free Mac app Cursorcerer useful, and Say hi to @Doomlaser on Twitter
July 26th, 2016 at 10:47 am
[…] Grab KP Screensaver from the developer home […]
July 22nd, 2016 at 12:22 pm
[…] Grab KP Screensaver from the developer home […]
March 22nd, 2016 at 5:14 am
[…] Kernel Panic Screensaver: http://doomlaser.com/kernel-panic-screensaver/ […]
December 13th, 2013 at 12:15 pm
<3
December 13th, 2013 at 12:15 pm
awesome it made me think that i had the black screen of DEATH!!!! 😛
July 18th, 2013 at 5:35 am
[…] to the folks at Doomlaser, you can now add a prank Kernal Panic screensaver to your collection of screensavers. If you’ve been fortunate enough never to […]
May 23rd, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Ok WOW, great preview image! That really had me fooled for a second, i tried redownloading 😛
April 5th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
My ENTIRE school has macs. You can see where this is going.
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:25 pm
thank you, thank you, thank you! Where do I send a bottle of scotch!?!?
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Thanks for updating this for 10.6 onwards! 😉
April 7th, 2011 at 1:12 am
[…] If you’re interested downloading the screensaver, it can be found here. […]
February 5th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
I want it for Snow Leopard too. Please.
February 3rd, 2011 at 1:14 pm
en mi compu no agarra se bloquea i es mac ox
January 28th, 2011 at 9:13 am
Snow Leopard version please!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 17th, 2011 at 10:48 am
[…] das war eigentlich auch nur eine Frage der Zeit: ‘Kernel Panic Screensaver‘ ist ein Bildschirmschoner der den Absturz eines Macs unter OS X simuliert. Ganz nett und […]
January 2nd, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Hey, I was wondering if you could release a version for Snow Leopard (10.6). I loved this screen saver on leopard, an I want to keep using it. Thanks!
December 17th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Okay, so bribery time. What would it take to get you to recompile this little beauty to be Mac OS 10.6 compatible? I find that the world just isnt quite as awesome now that this gem isnt compatible.
November 27th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
[…] Emula un Kernel Panic (nunca vi uno real, quizás esta sea la forma de poder verlo) […]
November 26th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
[…] Emula un Kernel Panic (nunca vi uno real, quizás esta sea la forma de poder verlo) […]
October 9th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
haha! this fooled the apple store!it was insane!!!!
October 9th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
haha! this fooled the apple store!
October 9th, 2010 at 8:06 am
[…] Fake a Kernel Panic […]
September 24th, 2010 at 4:17 am
Aww, it’s broken on Snow Leopard ðŸ™
September 18th, 2010 at 5:22 am
Any chance to compile this in 64 bit so it will work on 10.6.4?
August 26th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Can you update this for Mac OS X Snow Leopard? It won’t run. Thanks!
August 6th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Dude make a version for snow leopard! I want to freak out my parents XD
July 26th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
It wont work on my computer for some reason.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:49 am
won’t allow me to install
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 am
In reply to Tony
*What exactly causes a kernel to panic?*
When someone steals his secret recipe and sells it on ebay 😉
Finger Lickin Good!!!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:29 am
>
>
>
When someone steals his secret recipe and sells it on ebay 😉
Finger Lickin Good!!!!
April 20th, 2008 at 1:34 am
This thing is awesome but I got fired by my boss when I put this on his computer. That’s too bad for me….
April 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
[…] kostenlosen Download gibt es hier. Bookmark ablegen Diese Icons verzweigen auf soziale Netzwerke bei denen Nutzer neue Inhalte […]
April 8th, 2008 at 2:28 am
[…] das war eigentlich auch nur eine Frage der Zeit: ‚Kernel Panic Screensaver‚ ist ein Bildschirmschoner der den Absturz eines Macs unter OS X simuliert. Ganz nett und […]
April 8th, 2008 at 12:23 am
[…] als lustig, deshalb rate ich gerade Mac-Usern mit Herz-Problemen: Bitte nicht diesen Screensaver: Kernel Panic Screensaver! installieren […]
March 31st, 2008 at 10:26 pm
This reminds me of an application that was floating around in OS 9. When it was run you’d get the little restart dialog window with the bomb making you think your computer crashed. When you rolled the mouse over the dialog to click on the restart button the window would jump away form the mouse. Great fun to put in someone’s startup items 😉
March 31st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
let the games begin! nice work—thanks.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:23 am
What exactly causes a kernel to panic?
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Gefällt mir! Muss ich mir mal bei Gelenheit runterladen.
February 5th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I downloaded this on both my machines, but then I noticed something. When my iMac actually does KP, the screen goes grayscale. With this screensaver, it just gets like a gray haze, but you can still see all the colors. Just thought I’d mention that. Also, maybe that’s the difference between a KP on OSX Tiger and OSX Leopard. I run both.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
[…] amico mi segnala un simpatico screensaver per OS X: Kernel Panic! Si scarica da qui. Aggiungi a del.icio.us 1 Views ZN utilizza WordPress Revolution v4.1 basato su iTheme di […]
January 26th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Funny!
January 7th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Can You make one just like that one for windows? Preferribly Vista
Or Does anyone know of a file conversion program so I can change it?
December 29th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
How do I install this screensaver?
December 7th, 2007 at 3:16 am
[…] blue screen of death. But I have now experienced it first hand. Some people even think this is a good joke (and it […]
November 13th, 2007 at 8:10 am
I ran into several scary screen savers but this one tops them all. It scared the sh… out of my boss. And yes, I still have a job 🙂
It is extremely funny screen saver after the victim recovers from the shock. As a matter of fact it is not that scary as it is funny, in a sick, very sick way 🙂
November 7th, 2007 at 9:43 am
this is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 5th, 2007 at 8:57 am
[…] BlueScreen Screen SaverBluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot. Available for all Windows versions except Vista. This could be extremely irritating, watch carefully. An analog solution for Mac OS X – Kernel Panic Screensaver. […]
October 4th, 2007 at 8:44 am
[…] BlueScreen Screen SaverBluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot. Available for all Windows versions except Vista. This could be extremely irritating, watch carefully. An analog solution for Mac OS X – Kernel Panic Screensaver. […]
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Haha. Que lindo! Este salvapantalla se tiene que installar on los mac de los otros. Gracias por tu post!
September 6th, 2007 at 3:10 am
[…] out Doomlaser’s Kernel Panic Screensaver although be prepared for genuine confusion at their first exposure to an operating system crash […]
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:20 am
Your screensaver gave me a kernel panic.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
[…] will look like on your Mac (or fool your friends and family), you can download Mark Johns’ Kernel Panic Screensaver, posted at his Doomlaser […]
August 30th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Thanks! This works like a charm, just tried it on my co-worker – I added it to my list of mac pranks here,
http://www.zaphu.com/2007/08/22/mac-os-x-pranks/
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:02 pm
[…] you really want to send someone into cardiac arrest download this kernel panic screensaver! For those of you who don’t know, this kernel panic indicator is like the “blue screen […]
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
The screensaver works on my MacBook (I downloaded it when I had an iBook G4), but instead of showing the kernel panic animation over the screen it turns the screen white then shows the animation.
Just thought you’d like to know about that bug in your very neat screensaver.
July 17th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Actually, if music is playing when u get a KP, u hear the music cut off, but repeat the last half-second constantly.
For instance, if an audio file was playing while the machine KPs, you’d hear:
“This is what happens when an audio file is playing during a kernel panic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic-ic…”
July 13th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
I’ve been using this for several months and it still makes my heart race every single time I see it come on….
June 29th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Please help. I am getting this message on my MacBook. How do I get rid of it? thanks much.
June 4th, 2007 at 8:36 am
[…] Doomlaser » Blog Archive » Kernel Panic Screensaver! […]
June 2nd, 2007 at 8:30 am
[…] 6/2 – I installed the Kernel Panic screensaver from Doomlaser for fun. It emulates what happened to me perfectly! I already scared my sister […]
May 16th, 2007 at 6:08 am
[…] […]
May 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Brilliant!
May 5th, 2007 at 11:07 am
[…] for debugging instructions. As I was, I stumbled across this odd, and potentially shut down-causing screensaver. As the screensaver it will show the interface for a real kernel panic. Though I don’t want […]
April 15th, 2007 at 11:00 am
I love it
April 14th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Awesome idea, wish the dual-screen thing worked properly. Also, I had a problem with the iTunes pausination. It didn’t pause, just lowered the volume to almost nothing, and when I awoke it it came back to normal for a second before dropping out again. I like the idea, but really wish it would actually pause the music before muting, and then restore the volume to the level it was before.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Maby Windows version? 🙂
There is a BSOD screen saver taht u can download.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:18 am
[…] just came across this little gem of a screensaver that basically emulates what a kernel panic looks like. For those that don’t […]
April 12th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Totally cruel.
I love it!
April 12th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Thanks for the tip, and good job on the screensaver.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
So dso you need a mac for this to work?
April 12th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Markster, What’s a screensaver? See you Saturday night! U.A.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Where can I download with al those lovely colors?
April 12th, 2007 at 7:26 am
Thats a great prank, the only question is how do I install it remotely using ssh and then make it the default screen saver and then set the time to have it start in 3 minutes?
April 12th, 2007 at 3:05 am
a really great job, i love it and my friends will hate that kind of humour… you are on big ideas 😉
get on with that ideas!
April 12th, 2007 at 3:00 am
[…] Best prank you could ever play on a mac user! A screensaver that mimics OSX’s hard crash. Superb. […]
April 11th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Don’t panic! It’s just a screensaver
In November, I wrote about a screensaver for Windows PCs that emulates a Blue Screen of Death. And in a wonderful twist, it’s offered up by none other than Microsoft. Of course, the Macintosh has an equivalent to the BSoD…
April 11th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
why do i only get the first part of scrrensaver?
it doesnt change from the first bit asking u to turn power of?
April 11th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Macs können auch mal abstürzen
Martin vom Apfelblick hat einen coolen Bildschirmschoner gefunden: Er simuliert eine Kernel Panic. Selbst beim Abstürzen machen Macs noch eine elegantere Figur als Windows-PCs…
Fun Fact: Bei Wikipedia hab ich ein animated gif einer Guru Meditat…
April 11th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Wow… I even panicked a bit when I knew it was coming.. my music stopped playing and everything! 🙂
April 11th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I’m adding you to my RSS based on the awesome domain name alone. Pure genius.
April 11th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Awesome!!!! But on dual screens, it does show on both— when it shouldn’t.
Other than that, this is brillaint 😛
April 11th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
yeah, creative idea, especially in view of the fact that Mark Russinovich’s famous Windows BSOD screensaver has been around for, what, over a decade? But nevertheless, kudos for getting the job done.
April 11th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
“Heh, that’s just my screensav-OH SHIT.”
April 10th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
[…] maniacally geeky folks over at Doomlaser have created the single most awesome screensaver since Mr. Sparkle. The Kernel Panic Screensaver […]
April 10th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Hi did you ever tryed with a dual screen mac? the main screen is copied to all other screens and the KP is shown on all screens. in real it is only shown on the first (or on laptops on the internal).
anyway good work, but there is a little bit to improve 🙂
April 10th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Very creative and highly entertaining, it’s been featured on OSXDaily.com!
http://osxdaily.com/2007/04/10/prank-your-friends-with-a-fake-kernel-panic/
April 10th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
[…] Doomlaser » Blog Archive » Kernel Panic Screensaver!: So awhile back I was thinking, “You know what would be funny? A screensaver that fakes a kernel panic!” […]
April 10th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
What a fantastic idea.
Now if i can only sneak it onto my colleagues Macs at work 😉
April 10th, 2007 at 6:24 am
good job mark, it has fooled EVERYONE at work. One of my co-workers even ran out of the office as i was leaving for lunch to tell me that my machine KP’d.