Latest Windows 11 update is broken, refuses to install — Microsoft pulls latest update over missing files error

Microsoft's tenacity in imposing AI across its product stack has cornered Windows into a tough spot. Mac and Linux are catching up in terms of software compatibility, and Windows' longstanding flaws have begun to outweigh its universality. Even though the company has promised to fix the OS and has initiated a course correction, the mistakes just keep slipping through the cracks. The latest in the line of discrepancies is a new Windows update that, funnily enough, won't install for a lot of users.

Microsoft pushed the KB5079391 non-security update on March 26, 2026, featuring "production-quality" improvements, which means it's part of the efforts to make the OS more stable/reliable. It's ironic then that the update refuses to install, throwing up the 0x80073712 error code in a loop. This code means something is broken or missing in the update files, which is preventing Windows from piecing together the update.

The only fix to this is rerolling the update with fixed components, so Microsoft has pulled it from the release channel for now. If someone got the update installed anyway, no reports have shown it actually breaking anything — it's just the installation process itself that's broken. No harm, no foul; but it's still a waste of time and, more importantly, the optics of another broken Windows update are inopportune. "Rollout of this update is temporarily paused due to installation error 0x80073712," Microsoft's website now reads. "To prevent additional impact while the issue is investigated, Microsoft has temporarily limited the availability of this update. As a result, the update temporarily might not be offered through Windows Update."

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KB5079391 is not just a minor update, either, as it brings a lot of new features like support for monitors beyond 1,000 Hz. There's a new About page in Settings, and a brand-new Narrator built around Copilot, among other refinements such as a better File Explorer experience. It's an optional update, and it was released in preview, so maybe some of the blame can be absolved, but there's still no workaround for installing it thus far.

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