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.
"Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment
"Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory
"Locate the file matching 'C-0000029*.sys', and delete it.
"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."
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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.
What is CrowdStrike and why users are getting Windows blue screens
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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You'll then need to navigate to "Advanced options" and pick the entry that lets you boot up in several different safe modes. CrowdStrike says you should select the Safe Mode with Networking option. Your PC should then restart without triggering the Blue Screen of Death error.
You'll then need to navigate to "Advanced options" and pick the entry that lets you boot up in several different safe modes. CrowdStrike says you should select the Safe Mode with Networking option. Your PC should then restart without triggering the Blue Screen of Death error.
“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.
CrowdStrike itself was able to identify and deploy a fix for the issue in 79 minutes. While CrowdStrike quickly identified and deployed a fix for the issue, the recovery process for businesses is complex and time-consuming.
A faulty automatic update to the widely used “Falcon” cybersecurity software developed by CrowdStrike assumes the responsibility for the outage. Falcon is a widely used platform employed by organisations around the world, which is why so many sectors were critically affected.
What we know about the global Microsoft outage. A massive outage was caused by what was supposed to be a routine update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. A routine software update caused cascading chaos Friday that has engulfed global businesses from airports and banks to retail and law enforcement.
According to Microsoft's website, the so-called Blue Screen of Death occurs "if a serious problem causes Windows to shut down or restart unexpectedly." The entirely blue screen is unmistakable to users who experience the problem, and a message reads "Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart.
The cause of this outage came from a faulty update from CrowdStrike, deployed to computers running Microsoft Windows. The issue was specifically linked to Falcon, one of the companies main products, which does not impact Mac or Linux operating systems.
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. If you are using Windows 8 or later, the Blue Screen is slightly different.
Reboot your machine to give it an opportunity to download the CrowdStrike fix. Note: connecting the machine to the wired network and using Safe Mode with Networking may help remediation.
Follow one of the below instruction sets: Boot into Safe Mode. Alternate to Safe Mode.
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.
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