It's only been a few days since Windows 10's demise, and the latest Windows 11 update is causing havoc

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man in a suit gets angry and smashes the keyboard on the monitor

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Microsoft's Windows Recovery Environment has a major bug after the latest update for Windows 11 25H2
USB mice and keyboards are not working in Windows Recovery mode
This means people hit by serious issues preventing their PC from booting can't resolve them in the Recovery mode

Windows 10 finally met its official end on October 14 last week, after a decade of existence, with users pushed to upgrade to Windows 11 (or sign up for extended support). However, a bug in the most recent update for Windows 11's latest version, 25H2, makes that upgrade path a little risky.

As reported by Tom's Hardware, the KB5066835 update for Windows 11 25H2 has broken the Windows Recovery Environment (WRE). The glitch means that USB mice and keyboards won't work in the WRE, which is seriously bad news.

The Windows Recovery Environment is where you'll end up if your PC fails to boot, and it's designed to allow you to troubleshoot the problem that caused this failure. However, if you can't use your mouse or keyboard in the WRE, that obviously makes it impossible to recover the PC.

Microsoft has commented on the issue and has said that it's working on a fix to be deployed in the coming days, but there is currently no ETA on exactly when that will be.

This update for Windows 11 25H2 arrived on the same date as Windows 10's End of Life, which is bad timing for those who decided to upgrade, and didn't stick with Windows 10 via its Extended Security Updates (ESU) scheme.

People who haven't yet made the decision on whether or not to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 probably won't feel any more enthusiastic about that option given the revelation of this potentially system-breaking bug.

This comes in addition to the litany of bugs that have plagued Windows 11 systems, including the recent glitch that's seemingly destroying SSDs. All this may leave people considering other alternatives to Windows 11 such as the unofficial Tiny11 - or maybe even moving to Linux.

Analysis: this is exactly why I consistently pause Windows 11 updates

Windows 11 Update showing on laptop in an office

Windows 11 has been a troublesome OS on my main PC, with frequent bugs and unexplained moments of freezing. This new glitch is another reason why I constantly avoid installing new updates for as long as possible, despite having them forced upon me (eventually) during system restarts or shutdowns. (You can't dodge an update for long on Windows 11 Home).

Windows Recovery getting effectively put out of action is incredibly frustrating, as it's there to save your OS when needed. It's not just meant for system repairs either, as it can also be used to uninstall Windows 11 updates, which I was forced to do back when Nvidia's GeForce driver caused a black screen on startup.

While it's impossible for operating systems not to have issues of some kind over time, problems have been happening too frequently with Windows 11, including some major bugs that bring functionality to a halt.

If it wasn't for games like Battlefield 6 and others using anti-cheat tools not working on Valve's SteamOS, I would've made the switch a long time ago. Let's just hope that Microsoft can get this resolved as soon as possible.

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Isaiah is a Staff Writer for the Computing channel at TechRadar. He's spent over two years writing about all things tech, specifically games on PC, consoles, and handhelds. He started off at GameRant in 2022 after graduating from Birmingham City University in the same year, before writing at PC Guide which included work on deals articles, reviews, and news on PC products such as GPUs, CPUs, monitors, and more. He spends most of his time finding out about the exciting new features of upcoming GPUs, and is passionate about new game releases on PC, hoping that the ports aren't a complete mess.

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