The recent CrowdStrike update is causing an unexpected Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) error on many Windows 10 computers globally. This update has affected many services and institutions leading to widespread infrastructural outages. Affected industry verticals include airports, banks, government offices, and various other enterprises using CrowdStrike.
The update is related to Falcon Sensor – an agent in CrowdStrike that detects unwanted threats on a system, blocks them, and records their activity. Ironically, the sensor has become the root cause of global outages and massive business downtimes.
Online forums and social media platforms are flooded with affected users posting images of Blue Screen of Death Error (BSoD) with their bug check value. Users have also reported their Windows 10 systems to be stuck on the recovery page while booting in Windows 10.
What Others Have to Say
Alongside users, cyber security departments of various countries have acknowledged the situation.
The National Cyber Security Coordinator of Australia (@AUCyberSecCoord) tweeted on X (Formerly known as Twitter) to confirm the global outage.
CrowdStrike has acknowledged the widespread issue affecting many Windows 10 PCs. According to their update, they are aware of the unwanted system crashes on Windows host systems related to the Falcon Sensor. They are actively working to resolve the issue and get the systems back online.
Possible Workarounds of CrowdStrike Update-Related BSoD
Both, the affected users and the engineering team at CrowdStrike are working tirelessly to end this massive global outage by addressing the root cause. Below are some possible workarounds that affected users can employ.
Note – They are possible workarounds and therefore may or may not work for some users.
Workaround 1: Delete the Affected File via Safe Mode
The engineering teams at CrowdStrike have identified a content deployment related to this issue. They have advised users to boot their Windows 10 PCs in Safe Mode and remove the affected file in the System32 folder. Here are the steps to use the temporary workaround –
- Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment.
- Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
- Locate the file “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it.
- Boot the host system normally.
Workaround 2: Rename the Affected File
Some users encountered a boot loop error with ‘csagent.sys’ file failing. For this, another possible workaround was suggested by a Reddit user which involves renaming the CrowdStrike folder. Here are steps –
- Boot your PC into Windows Recovery Environment.
- Boot your PC in Safe Mode.
- Launch CMD (Administrator) and type net user administrator /active:yes.
- Press Enter.
- In Command Prompt (Administrator), type cd \windows\system32\drivers and press Enter.
- Type ren CrowdStrike CrowdStrike_old to rename the CrowdStrike folder.
You can find more about this issue and all the recent developments on this Reddit thread.
Can’t Resolve the CrowdStrike Update BSoD? What’s Next?
The workaround might help you, but if there is inadvertent data loss due to this BSOD, users can opt for Stellar Data Recovery Professional – a Windows data recovery software for recovering critical data, files, and information from an unbootable or crashing Windows PC.
Follow this simple guide to recover data from unbootable or crashed Windows PCs.
Once the data is safely recovered, you can transfer it to a working system or an isolated server.
