- Microsoft’s Windows Recovery Environment has a major bug after the latest update to Windows 11 25H2
- USB mice and keyboards do not work in Windows recovery mode
- This means that people suffering from serious problems that prevent their PC from booting cannot fix them in recovery mode
Windows 10 finally reached its official end on October 14 last week, after a decade of existence where users were pressured to upgrade to Windows 11 (or sign up for extended support). However, a bug in the latest update to Windows 11’s latest version, 25H2, makes that upgrade path a bit risky.
As reported by Tom’s Hardware, the KB5066835 update for Windows 11 25H2 has broken the Windows Recovery Environment (WRE). The bug means USB mice and keyboards won’t work in WRE, which is seriously bad news.
The Windows recovery environment is where you end up if your PC won’t start, and it’s designed to allow you to troubleshoot the problem that caused this error. However, if you can’t use your mouse or keyboard in WRE, it obviously makes it impossible to restore the PC.
Microsoft has commented on the issue and has said that it is working on a fix to be implemented in the coming days, but there is currently no ETA on exactly when that will be.
This Windows 11 25H2 update 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) schedule.
People who have not yet made the decision on whether to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 are unlikely to feel more excited about this option given the disclosure of this potential system breach.
This is in addition to the many bugs that have plagued Windows 11 systems, including the recent bug that apparently destroys SSDs. All this may lead people to consider other alternatives to Windows 11 such as the unofficial Tiny11 – or maybe even move to Linux.
Analysis: this is exactly why I consistently pause Windows 11 updates
Windows 11 has been a troublesome operating system on my primary PC, with frequent crashes and inexplicable moments of freezing. This new bug is another reason why I constantly avoid installing new updates for as long as possible, despite them being forced on me (eventually) during system reboots or shutdowns. (You can’t dodge an update for long on Windows 11 Home).
Windows Recovery being effectively disabled is incredibly frustrating as it is there to save your OS when needed. It’s not just for system repairs either, as it can also be used to uninstall Windows 11 updates, which I was forced to do when Nvidia’s GeForce driver caused a black screen on startup.
While it’s impossible for operating systems not to have problems of some kind over time, problems have occurred too often with Windows 11, including some major bugs that stop functionality.
If it wasn’t for games like Battlefield 6 and others using anti-cheat tools that don’t work on Valve’s SteamOS, I would have made the switch long ago. Let’s just hope that Microsoft can get this fixed as soon as possible.
