Do you use Crowdstrike for your anti-virus? If you do, you have probably been effected by the “Blue Screen of Death” when you start windows.

This is caused by a bug in an update to the Crowdstrike Falcon sensor, part of their endpoint / antivirus solution.

To fix this, you need to start your Windows computer in safe mode, then delete the file. This is how you do that…..

How to get into Safe Mode when the computer won’t boot….

Turn off your computer by holding down the power button for at least 10 seconds. Release it, then press briefly to power on. As soon as the loading screen appears, start holding the power button again for 10sec. The power back on. Repeat this several times, then allow the computer to start.

You should be presented with a Blue screen with various options.

Select “Troubleshoot”

Select “Advanced Options”

Select “Startup Settings”

Select “Restart”

Your Computer will restart and show various options.

Select “Safe Mode” by pressing f4

Your computer will start into safe Mode without getting stuck on the BlueScreen

You now need to delete the troublesome file.

Open File Explore and go to “My Computer” -> “Local Disk C:” (or similar) -> Windows -> System32 -> Drivers -> CrowdStrike.

Find a file called C-00000291*.sys and delete it. N.B the * represents other characters e.g C-00000291GTD39479.sys or C-00000291ABC.sys or C-00000291d9k49dnd.sys should be deleted if present.

Restart your computer once done, and it should start normally.

Hope this helps, please do contact us if you need any other help.