Global Technology Disruption
A serious global technology disruption that occurred on Friday due to a bug in an update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike may have largely faded from public consciousness. Thanks to administrators and IT departments around the world who quickly sprang into action to fix the issue that brought many airlines, hospitals, and Windows-based bank networks to a standstill, things seem to be back to normal.
However, while everything may have settled down for consumers, IT departments are still grappling with getting their company computers back up and running. As Mashable reported previously, the faulty CrowdStrike update required a technical fix and direct access to each affected device. Therefore, for large organizations, this would take some time.
Blue Screen of Death
IT departments now have a helping hand thanks to a recent, easier fix released by Microsoft.
CrowdStrike released an updated fix soon after the faulty version was released, but it was too late for many computers that had automatically installed the update. Once installed, the fix became a manual process that included booting computers in Safe Mode to overcome Windows' "Blue Screen of Death" and then deleting the update file.
While this might be a little technical for the average Windows user, it wasn't an issue for an IT professional. However, the issue was that this was a time-consuming process: boot into Safe Mode, find the update file, delete it, repeat. It had to be done for every affected machine.
Microsoft's Solution
Microsoft's fix, released over the weekend, dramatically speeds up the process. While the fix still requires manual work on each computer, the tedious processes have been automated.
Microsoft's recovery tool utilizes a bootable USB drive to log into a stripped-down version of Windows called the Windows Pre-installation Environment or Windows PE. From there, it will automatically delete the problematic CrowdStrike update file on the affected computer.
As The Verge pointed out, this saves time because it "avoids having to boot into Safe Mode or needing admin rights on the machine, because the tool simply accesses the disk without booting into the local copy of Windows."
Even though a third party was responsible, the only affected devices were computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system. Therefore, it seems Microsoft felt compelled to act to help its many affected customers.
Microsoft has also provided detailed steps for fixing the CrowdStrike issue across multiple versions of Windows computers, including details on the USB tool.
Summary
A recent bug in a CrowdStrike update caused significant disruptions to various organizations worldwide, affecting their Windows-based systems. While CrowdStrike released a fix, it required a manual process that was time-consuming for IT departments. Microsoft stepped in and released a tool that automates the process, making it easier and faster to resolve the issue. The tool utilizes a bootable USB drive to access a stripped-down version of Windows and automatically delete the problematic update file, saving time and resources. This action highlights Microsoft's commitment to supporting its customers even when issues stem from third-party software.