- Microsoft has rushed an emergency patch for a nasty bug
- It made the recovery environment unusable in Windows 11 25H2
- This is the feature that helps you recover from a startup failure
Microsoft has quickly deployed an emergency patch to Windows 11 outside of its usual schedule of updates to address a major problem with the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
XDA Developers discovered the ‘out-of-band’ update that has just been released by Microsoft known as patch KB5070773 for Windows 11 25H2. It was the latest cumulative update (for October) and included the bug for version 25H2 which prevented USB keyboards and mice from working in WinRE.
WinRE is the feature that kicks in if your PC won’t boot, so it’s essential when disaster strikes your Windows 11 system and you need to recover. Being unable to use the mouse or keyboard renders the environment unusable.
In other words, those on Windows 11 25H2 who grabbed the October Update and then ran into a show-stopping problem with their PC were completely out of luck when it came to fixing that problem using the traditional recovery methods.
Analysis: don’t get stuck – update
As you can imagine, you really don’t want to be stuck in a boot failure creek without a recovery paddle. So if you’re running Windows 11 25H2 with the latest October update applied, I’d strongly advise you to download this emergency patch today – actually now.
The patch is installed by Windows Update, so what you need to do is go to that panel in the Settings app (just type ‘Windows Update’ in the taskbar search box). Then click ‘Check for Updates’ to do just that and you should see patch KB5070773. At this point, I imagine Microsoft has this available for all Windows 11 25H2 PCs (given that it was only implemented late yesterday, and given how important it is).
Should you not see the update, it is possible that your system has already installed it, although you would have seen an indication of it. It’s possible to miss these things, mind you, and you can always double-check your update history (in the Windows Update panel) to see if KB5070773 is listed.
If you’re not offered this patch, and certainly don’t already have it, you can install the update manually, provided you’re confident enough about your Windows 11 PC to do so. If so, as XDA points out, you can find the patch downloadable here in Microsoft’s Update Catalog.
Not so long ago, in August 2025, Microsoft broke the ability to reset a Windows 11 PC, which again required a workaround — so the software giant is on quite a roll when it comes to throwing a wrench into the recovery effort.
