CrowdStrike outage: How to fix the ‘blue screen of death’ on your PC

• A global IT outage disrupted banking, flights, and retail operations across New Zealand.
• The issue, linked to an update from cyber security firm CrowdStrike, affected services such as Auckland Transport and St John.
• Acting Prime Minister David Seymour confirmed the outage was not malicious, but IT experts say it could have financial flow-on effects and it could be days before some systems are fully recovered.

A problem with Microsoft Windows caused sweeping outages affecting hospitals, airlines, emergency services and people at home. The error, caused by a technical problem with cyber security software from CrowdStrike, sends users to a “blue screen of death”, telling them their device needs to restart.

But simply restarting might not fix the issue, users report. On Reddit, IT workers discussed the dizzying scope of the outage.

“This is what Y2K wishes it was,” one user commented. Others said the outage was the worst they’ve seen and noted the multiple steps they’re taking to get their employers back online.

Microsoft and CrowdStrike blamed the outage on a CrowdStrike software update that went out Friday. In a post on X, Microsoft suggested that affected users fix their computers by restoring the system to a point before the buggy CrowdStrike update went out. It linked to online directions for a manual restore.

What is the BSOD?

“Blue screen of death” is a cheeky nickname for a Windows error message that can keep users stuck rebooting their computers. The message reads: “Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then we’ll restart for you.”

How to restore an affected computer

Most of the work of getting systems working again will fall to IT professionals working for organisations. But people at home can attempt to work around the blue screen of death as well.

“The worst thing that happens if you try fixing it is that it doesn’t work, so you’re back where you started,” said Gregory Falco, a professor of systems engineering at Cornell University.

Your best bet right now is to restore your computer to a version before the update. To do so, power on your PC, but before it can launch, press and hold the power button to turn it back off. Do this three times in a row, and after the third time, you should see some advanced settings appear. Go to “advanced options”, then “system restore”.

You’ll see options for different restart points. Choose a point before the blue screen appeared – perhaps from yesterday. Then click through to the end by choosing “next” or “finish”.

You can also try booting your computer into safe mode. To do this, follow the steps above to power on and off until your screen shows advanced options. Choose troubleshoot > advanced options > startup settings > restart. Once your device restarts, select safe mode. Use the computer menu to find the folder C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike. Then find the file named “C-00000291*.sys” and delete it. Last, restart your computer.