Windows PCs crashing worldwide due to CrowdStrike issue

If your Windows computer is currently serving you the Blue Screen of Death, take heart in the fact that you aren't alone. Windows outages are being reported across the globe, apparently caused by a CrowdStrike issue.

"CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor," the cybersecurity company wrote in an alert confirming the outage at 1:30 a.m. ET on Friday. CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor is software designed to prevent computer systems from cyber attacks.

"Symptoms include experiencing a bugcheck\blue screen error related to the Falcon Sensor," CrowdStrike's alert continued. "Our Engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket."

Though the CrowdStrike issue is specifically causing Windows to crash, the problem seems to be having further reaching implications as well. Considering that Windows is an incredibly popular operating system and CrowdStrike an incredibly popular cybersecurity company, multiple companies and services also appear to be experiencing outages due to their computers being down.

Reports of outages have rolled in from several countries around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, and the UK. As of writing, crowdsourced outage monitor DownDetector is indicating a spike in issues across a slew of platforms and businesses in the U.S. as well, including Amazon Web Services, Instagram, eBay, Visa, ADT, and PlentyOfFish. Several U.S. airlines such as American, Delta, and United Airlines have been grounded due to communications issues, seemingly also the result of the outage.

Supermarkets, banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, and TV broadcasters are among the businesses impacted, with shoppers in Australia reportedly unable to pay for groceries due to electronic payment systems being down.

How to fix the CrowdStrike Windows BSOD issue

Fortunately, CrowdStrike has since announced at 2:30 a.m. ET that it has identified the update causing the issue and rolled it back. The company also offered a workaround for anyone having problems:

1. "Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment
2. "Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory
3. "Locate the file matching 'C-0000029*.sys', and delete it.
4. "Boot the host normally."

Of course, having to do this for every single computer in multiple companies across the globe is still likely to take some time.