Microsoft released a recovery tool that allows IT admins to repair Windows devices that were affected during the global outage by CrowdStrike.
The massive IT outage caused by a faulty update has reportedly impacted 8.5 million Windows devices.
Microsoft Issue Recovery Tool for Affected Systems
Microsoft rolled out a recovery tool that would make the process less manual and technical, following the events that affected several Windows systems. The tool creates a bootable USB drive that can be used to recover the machines quickly.
Booting the Windows PE environment via USB will give access to the disk of the affected machine. Instead of manually deleting the faulty CrowdStrike file, the tool will automatically delete and reboot it properly.
IT admins can also recover from safe mode by logging into an account with local admin privileges and running remediation steps. The WinPE step is the recommended option by Microsoft but BitLocker-enabled devices can use the safe mode.
The company also shared separate recovery steps for Windows Virtual Machines that run on Azure, Windows 10, and Windows 11 devices.
CrowdStrike Resolves Faulty Update, Shares Fix
CrowdStrike also announced an update that could help the affected devices remove the Blue Screen of Death errors. Most of the machines were able to resume their operations through an automatic reception of the fix.
Meanwhile, some IT admins shared that they had to reboot the PCs multiple times to get the necessary updates. On the contrary, some tried to manually boot into safe mode to delete the file of the CrowdStrike update.
Businesses that use virtual desktops were able to recover quicker than others. Other establishments that were not able to resolve the issue were forced to close down during the outage.
"It could be some time for some systems that won't automatically recover, but it is our mission to make sure every customer is fully recovered," said CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz.
