CrowdStrike announces Microsoft outage workaround. How to deal with the Blue Screen of Death. (2024)

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Did you get a Blue Screen of Death in the global outage? Try this.

ByAmanda Yeo on

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CrowdStrike announces Microsoft outage workaround. How to deal with the Blue Screen of Death. (1)

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Editor's note: Check out our oft-updated live blog for all new developments about the Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage

Windows computers around the world are being hit by the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) thanks to an outage caused by services provided by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The issue has impacted everyone from banks to airlines, with flights grounded, grocery carts abandoned, and productivity even lower than usual for a Friday.

Fortunately, CrowdStrike has since announced at 2:30 a.m. ET that it has identified the update causing the issue and rolled it back. The company also offered a workaround for anyone having problems:

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  1. "Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment

  2. "Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory

  3. "Locate the file matching 'C-0000029*.sys', and delete it.

  4. "Boot the host normally."

Of course, having to do this for every single computer in multiple companies across the globe is still likely to take some time.

"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts," CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on X. "Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

Related Stories

  • Microsoft outage updates: Crowdstrike issue still wreaking havoc despite fix

While there may be a workaround for individuals with a BSOD, it might take a while before the ripple effects subside globally. Countless services, such as airlines, banks, healthcare providers, and more are still struggling to get up-and-running. All indications are the outages won't completely stop for some time. Kurtz himself admitted as much in an interview with TODAY.

"It could be some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover," he said.

Featured Video For You

What is CrowdStrike and why users are getting Windows blue screens

CrowdStrike announces Microsoft outage workaround. How to deal with the Blue Screen of Death. (2)

Amanda Yeo

Assistant Editor

Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets.

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CrowdStrike announces Microsoft outage workaround. How to deal with the Blue Screen of Death. (2024)

FAQs

How to solve CrowdStrike error? ›

Microsoft itself has already suggested that those affected by the CrowdStrike issue should try turning it off and on again multiple times if they are running virtual machines inside Azure. This new fix is designed to help where these have failed or not been possible.

Did CrowdStrike cause Microsoft outage? ›

Was the Microsoft outage caused by CrowdStrike? Yes, the global outage experienced by Microsoft on Thursday was triggered by an issue with CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor software. This problem led to widespread disruptions and caused the 'Blue Screen of Death' to appear on Windows PCs.

Can you recover from a Blue Screen of Death? ›

In an earlier social media post, Microsoft said users can fix the blue screen of death by restoring their Windows 365 Cloud PC "to a known good state prior to the release of the update, or replacing the buggy version of Windows 365 with the system in use just before CloudStrike issued its faulty update.

Can blue screen of death go away on its own? ›

Windows has a few methods for automatically fixing the BSoD. In some cases, the crash may only occur once. However, it's never wise to ignore the problem. If Windows can't solve the problem itself, Fortect is an excellent tool for repairing your system.

Is blue screen of death unfixable? ›

The Blue Screen of Death is a critical error, but the good news is it's not unfixable. Microsoft offers valuable tips of its website, including a tip to remove any recently added hardware and restarting the device.

Is there a way to force a blue screen of death? ›

You can do this by holding down the furthest most right "Control" key then pressing the "Scroll Lock" key twice. Once this is completed, a blue screen should pop up.

How did CrowdStrike outage happen? ›

As CrowdStrike immediately explained to customers and the world, the problem was not a cyberattack but an error in the software update. Because the bug was in CrowdStrike's Falcon platform update for Microsoft Windows, computers using other operating systems (e.g. Mac and Linux) were not impacted.

Why is CrowdStrike down so much? ›

Last Friday, CrowdStrike's software was at the center of a major IT outage -- and the event has triggered big sell-offs of the company's stock. The cybersecurity specialist's valuation pullback continued this week as investors and analysts weighed the potential fallout of the major system failure for the business.

How do I get rid of CrowdStrike? ›

Uninstall from Control Panel
  1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
  2. Click Uninstall a Program.
  3. Choose CrowdStrike Windows Sensor and uninstall it.

How to fix laptop CrowdStrike? ›

How to fix your Microsoft Windows PC impacted by the CrowdStrike bug
  1. Boot your Windows computer into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment.
  2. Navigate to the %WINDIR%\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
  3. Locate the file matching "C-00000291*.sys" and delete it.
  4. Boot the host normally.
6 days ago

How to repair CrowdStrike? ›

How to Fix the CrowdStrike Blue Screen Problem
  1. Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment. ...
  2. Navigate to the %WINDIR%\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
  3. In that directory, delete any . ...
  4. After a normal reboot, your Windows PC will operate normally.
Jul 19, 2024

How do I fix blue screen glitch? ›

These errors can be caused by both hardware and software issues. If you added new hardware to your PC before the Blue Screen error, shut down your PC, remove the hardware, and try restarting. If you're having trouble restarting, you can start your PC in safe mode.

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