Microsoft has introduced a new custom recovery tool designed to assist users impacted by a recent global outage. The WinPE-based tool is aimed at identifying and removing malware, which has reportedly affected approximately 8.5 million devices worldwide.
The outage, which began early on Friday, caused widespread disruptions, including crashes that left many Windows users facing the infamous “blue screen of death.” Critical services across airlines, banks, and retail sectors were impacted.
According to George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, confirmed that the issue stemmed from a “defect in a single content update for Windows hosts.” This bug was introduced through a flawed update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon monitoring product. CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, provides antivirus and cyber-attack prevention tools globally.
In response to this issue, Microsoft has developed an updated recovery tool with two repair options to expedite the recovery process for IT administrators:
- Recover from WinPE: This option creates boot media that allows you to start the device using Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE). This environment allows for the direct recovery of systems, without requiring local admin privileges. Users may need to manually enter the BitLocker recovery key if BitLocker is enabled. For devices with third-party disk encryption, consult vendor instructions for recovery.
- Recover from Safe Mode: This option creates boot media to enable devices to start in Safe Mode. This recovery option can help BitLocker-enabled devices without needing the BitLocker recovery key, provided you have local administrator rights. It’s suitable for devices with TPM-only protectors, unencrypted devices, or if the BitLocker key is unknown. For devices with TPM+PIN protectors, the PIN or BitLocker key will be required. If BitLocker isn’t enabled, only admin rights are needed. For third-party disk encryption, follow the vendor’s guidance to recover the drive.
To create the boot media, you’ll need a Windows 64-bit client with at least 8GB of free space to run the tool and generate the bootable USB drive. Administrative privileges on this Windows client are also required. Additionally, you’ll need a USB drive with a capacity between 1GB and 32GB, which will be automatically formatted to FAT32 and have all existing data erased during the process.
The signed Microsoft Recovery Tool can be accessed through the Microsoft Download Center, as detailed in Microsoft’s official blog post.
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