Sponsored
Contents
How IT Admins Are Fixing the Windows Blue Screen of Death
IT administrators worldwide are in crisis mode today due to a major issue with Windows computers. A recent faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike has caused thousands of PCs and servers to crash with the notorious Windows Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error. Although CrowdStrike has resolved the update issue, countless systems remain offline, affecting banks, airlines, supermarkets, and TV broadcasters.
The Fix: Tackling the Windows Blue Screen of Death
Windows Blue Screen of Death Fix for many affected systems isn’t straightforward. IT admins are utilizing a suggested workaround from CrowdStrike, which involves booting Windows into Safe Mode and manually deleting the problematic system file to initiate the Windows Blue Screen of Death fix:
- Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment.
- Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
- Locate and delete the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”.
- Reboot the host.
These steps help boot Windows into an environment where third-party drivers, such as CrowdStrike’s kernel-level driver, aren’t loaded. Admins must physically access machines to delete the faulty driver, complicating matters in environments with disk encryption like BitLocker or limited admin rights.
Sponsored
Challenges and Solutions
For many environments, the workaround is complicated by technical constraints, pushing some IT admins to wait for CrowdStrike’s fix. This entails repeated reboots in hopes that the update gets applied before the machine crashes again. Surprisingly, this “turn-it-off-and-on-again” method has had some success, with machines coming back online after multiple reboots. The delay can be attributed to CrowdStrike’s update servers being overwhelmed by an influx of requests from millions of machines.
Businesses using virtual desktops might recover faster by restoring systems to a pre-update state. However, in cases where reboots fail, booting into Safe Mode remains the most reliable option to implement a Windows Blue Screen of Death fix.
CrowdStrike’s Response
This crisis won’t be resolved in just a few hours. “It could take some time for systems that won’t automatically recover, but it is our mission to ensure every customer is fully operational,” stated CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz in an interview with NBC News. Kurtz apologized for the widespread disruptions caused by the faulty update, promising a thorough investigation into how such an issue could affect so many machines globally.
Sponsored
