CrowdStrike Windows reboot issue: What exactly happened, which PC users are affected, and how to fix it [Easy Explainer]

Microsoft Windows Outage UPDATE: CrowdStrike CEO apologizes, system will be restored soon

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized for the global outage that affected Windows operating systems. In an interview with NBC News, he “vowed” to work with CrowdStrike partners to get services back online. “A lot of customers are rebooting their systems and it’s coming back. It may take a while for some systems that don’t automatically recover,” Kurtz said.

“We are deeply sorry for the impact we have caused to our customers, our guests, anyone affected by this incident, including our company,” he added.

Millions Windows Users started reporting reboot issues and encountering ‘Blue Screen of Death’ with their computers this Friday afternoon. The outage is still ongoing and has disrupted operations in various sectors, including airlines, publishing, etc. The issue is so widespread that even the Indian government has issued a advisory to minimize problems.

The issue was caused by a content update released by CrowdStrike for Windows servers—meaning only Windows users were affected, with Mac and Linux users not affected.

This naturally raises the question:

What is CrowdStrike and why does it affect Windows users?

For those who don’t know, CrowdStrike is an American cybersecurity company that partners with companies including Microsoft to deploy tools like Falcon to prevent hackers and other security threats that can affect businesses, etc. Many companies actively use the services of this company to stay safe and threat-free.

Now, on Friday, the company released a Windows-only content update that caused some problems with Windows computers running CrowdStrike services. This caused them to get stuck in a boot loop—repeatedly rebooting and displaying the Blue Screen of Death. The company’s CEO, George Kurtz, speak that the issue with the update has been identified and a fix has been deployed. However, many systems are still experiencing issues, including millions of enterprise users.

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

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Which Windows computer users are affected?

It’s worth noting that not all Windows PCs are affected; only PCs with the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor software are affected. This includes many business users, college students, and retail employees. Also, as mentioned earlier, Mac and Linux users are not affected, as no updates have been released for them.

What is the blue screen of death?

The Blue Screen of Death, a well-known problem that has been affecting Windows computers for years, occurs due to serious problems with your computer and can be caused by a variety of reasons, such as driver issues, hardware failures, or even when a critical process abruptly terminates. This error is not new and has been reported as a problem since Windows 1.0. Simply put, if you see this error affecting your computer, it means that there is definitely something wrong that needs to be fixed in order for your computer to run normally and safely.

In this case, the specific issue was caused by a content update released by CrowdStrike that conflicted with the Windows system.

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How can you troubleshoot CrowdStrike Windows yourself?

Based on the massive CrowdStrike incident thread on Reddit and CERT-In’s recommendations, there are a number of solutions that can help Windows users get back to work. These include:

1. Start Windows in Safe Mode or Windows Recovery Environment.
2. Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike folder.
3. Find the file named “C-00000291*.sys” and delete it.
4. Start the server normally.

If you still can’t get your PC to work, it’s best to wait for an official fix to hit your PC. Meanwhile, if you have a Mac or Linux computer, you can use it as it’s not affected by this content update.