Microsoft has begun testing a new Quick Machine Recovery feature designed to prevent widespread outages like last year’s CrowdStrike incident. The new feature, part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 6120.3653, allows IT professionals to remotely restore a Windows 11 device to working order even if it can’t boot.
Image source: Microsoft
Microsoft first announced Quick Machine Recovery last year as part of its Windows Resiliency Initiative, in response to the massive outage caused by its CrowdStrike software. In July last year, CrowdStrike released a faulty kernel-level update that caused millions of Windows devices to experience the Blue Screen of Death. This affected banks, airlines, healthcare organizations, TV companies, and many other companies that use the software. IT administrators scrambled to quickly get the crashed machines back up and running, but in many cases, this was impossible due to the need for physical access to the faulty PCs. The resulting catastrophic outage resulted in billions of dollars in damages worldwide.
The Quick Machine Recovery feature is designed to help prevent such IT infrastructure failures. It allows the device to enter the Windows recovery environment, where it can access the Internet and provide diagnostic information to Microsoft. Microsoft can then remotely deploy fixes to the affected PC via Windows Update.
The new recovery feature will be enabled by default for home users. Windows Insiders can try it out now using the test environment.