Microsoft outage updates: Crowdstrike issue still wreaking havoc despite fix (2024)

Editor's note: Check out our oft-updated live blog for all new developments about the Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage.

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.

And if your banking app is down or doctor's appointment was canceled, well, you're not alone there either.

The problem first arose overnight for the East Coast of the U.S.

"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. Considering that Windows is an incredibly popular operating system and CrowdStrike an incredibly popular cybersecurity company, companies and services worldwide have had massive issues all of Friday.

Microsoft acknowledged the issue as well. “We're aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming," a Microsoft spokesperson says.

Around midday on Friday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella issued a statement on the outages as the world continued to reel with the ramifications.

"Yesterday, CrowdStrike released an update that began impacting IT systems globally," Nadella wrote on X. "We are aware of this issue and are working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to provide customers technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online."

The outages are global, and massive. Here's what's affected

Reports of outages have rolled in from several countries around the world, including the United States, 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 Instagram, eBay, Visa, ADT, and PlentyOfFish.

Mashable's Alex Perry broke down, in detail, six of the biggest industries and services experiencing problems, but here are the broad strokes.

"This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure," Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of Britain’s National Cyber Security Center, told the New York Times.

Airline outages

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. Thousands of flights have been canceled across the globe.

UK's Ryanair announced that their booking and check-in system is currently down.

The Federal Aviation Administration said on X it was "closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines, with updates available at fly.faa.gov.

See our detailed coverage of all affected airlines here.

Emergency services

A number of hospitals and emergency services were affected by the outage. Boston hospital Mass General Brigham, for instance, said early Friday that "all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits are canceled today." Alaskan State Troopers reported on Facebook that "many 911 and non-emergency call centers are not working correctly across the State of Alaska." Worries were so widespread that other locales, such as New York City and Miami-Dade, put out statements that their emergency services were not affected.

As the day wore on, it became clear that countless hospitals across the country were forced to cancel non-emergency appointments while, thankfully, 911 and emergency services seemed to be operation in most places. A total of three states — Alaska, Oregon, and Arizona — had areas that had issues with 911 or emergency response systems, the New York Times reported.

Other affected businesses

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. A look at DownDetector shows a spike in outages across nearly all industries. Visa, Starbucks, Chase, TD Bank, Bank of America, Walmart, UPS, and countless other businesses appeared to be having issues. Even shipping services, like UPS and FedEX, said that deliveries would be delayed due to the outages. The problem is so widespread it is difficult to understand its scope, but it appears to be one of, if not the largest, outages in history.

Voting systems

Authorities in Arizona's Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, reported issues in some early voting locations for the state's primary elections.

"Due to the global tech outage, Maricopa County Elections is also experiencing an outage at some voting locations," wrote the Maricopa County Elections Department in a statement.

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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.

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Crowdstrike stock plummeting

CrowdStrike's stock is down more than 21% in pre-market trading on Friday. By this metric, the company's market cap has shrunk by $16 billion.

How long will the outages last?

In short: It could be a while before the outages are fixed. While fixing the problem might be relatively simple, it needs to be done manually, which means it could take a long time for everything to be back to running normally. Crowdstrike's CEO even admitted it "could be some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover" in an interview with TODAY.