Businesses across various industries are currently facing issues due to a faulty update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon security software, causing Windows-based systems to crash with a blue screen of death error message. Both Microsoft and CrowdStrike have acknowledged the problem and have pulled the affected update. However, the focus now shifts to IT admins who need to quickly restore their systems to normal functionality.
Microsoft has provided guidance on how to fix the issue, ranging from simple to complex solutions depending on the number of affected systems and their configurations. The first recommended fix is to repeatedly reboot affected machines to allow them to grab a non-broken update before the faulty driver triggers the BSOD. Some users have had to reboot their systems up to 15 times to successfully resolve the issue.
If rebooting doesn’t work, Microsoft suggests restoring systems from a backup taken before the buggy update was deployed. For more persistent issues, booting machines into Safe Mode to manually delete the problematic file is advised. The file causing the BSOD errors is a CrowdStrike driver located in a specific directory, which once removed, should allow the system to boot normally.
However, deleting the file manually on each affected system can be time-consuming, especially for users with Microsoft’s BitLocker drive encryption. Recovery keys are required to access encrypted disks, and if not readily available, the process can be likened to a self-inflicted ransomware attack. Additionally, key management servers may also be impacted by the CrowdStrike bug, further complicating the recovery process.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has expressed regret for the inconvenience caused by the issue and assured customers that they are working diligently to assist impacted users in restoring their systems. As more information and recommendations become available from Microsoft and CrowdStrike, affected businesses are encouraged to stay updated and follow the provided guidance for resolving the CrowdStrike reboot issues and complex errors.
