4 ms·

Windows 11 Cumulative Update 2025-10 breaks localhost applications

177 points by marksamman 1y ago

WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
Link at bottom has some results about sudden, recent localhost failures working for several years, today localhost not found after GUI reboot attempt localhost and 127.0.0.1 should be the same, it seems strange they shows different results. wusa /uninstall /kb:5066835 (restart) wusa /uninstall /kb:5066131 (restart) wusa /uninstall /kb:5065789 (restart) ref: https://kagi.com/search?q=windows+localhost+not+working&dr=2&r=us&sh=vsnvW1VvE1l2iwkxZfjCUw https://kagi.com/search?q=windows+localhost+not+working&dr=2...
dehugger 1y ago
I'm shocked there's not more traction on this post. Breaking localhost is almost unthinkable to me. Of all the things network unit testing should cover, that's pretty close to the top.
- eddie_catflap 1y ago
  Same. The incident calls I'm on this morning agree too
- nebula8804 1y ago
  They probably have ChatGPT running their test suite or some nonsense like that now.
- sidewndr46 1y ago
  I imagine Microsoft expects everything to be done in the cloud using AI, so localhost is considered deprecated now.
  - AnonymousPlanet 1y ago
    In that case localhost is their competition.
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    If you the loopback address doesn't work how can every other address work, that builds on top of this.
d3Xt3r 1y ago
Windows keeps becoming more and more worse and bloated every month. This month's update bumped up the install.wim by 400MB! And last month's update added a similar amount of bulk. It's insane how much junk Microsoft keeps adding to the OS, whilst breaking core functionality.
- ronsor 1y ago
  Every time they add new things to the OS, the old functionality is crushed under the weight of the new.
- pjmlp 1y ago
  Agreed, yet I don't see people rushing out to buy GNU/Linux powered laptops at Media Markt, because there aren't any.
  - tmtvl 1y ago
    And it's very odd. You can find Microsoft and Apple laptops in many stores, but for GNU/Linux you basically have to go to speciality shops. Now, obviously, MS isn't going to be doing the whole 'if you don't sell non-Windows machines we'll give you a better deal' malarkey any more because they've learned that the court will bring the hammer down with a righteous fury when MS does that kind of anti-competitive nonsense (just remember the whole bundled browser saga), so it's weird. I suppose it could just be the vicious cycle of 'no GNU/Linux laptops in stores' -> 'people don't know about GNU/Linux laptops' -> 'there's no demand' -> 'no GNU/Linux laptops in stores'. A problem which can only be solved by people in the know informing the general public (informing the public is always better than merely voting with one's wallet because multiple wallets > one wallet).
    - rkomorn 1y ago
      I've bought multiple laptops that either shipped with Linux or were widely recognized as Linux-friendly. They all functioned better (hardware support wise) with Windows than Linux. I don't buy that it's just an issue of informing the general public. The products need to be better. And yes, I'm very familiar with all the anecdotes about how people's relatives have never been happier since they switched them over to Linux.
usui 1y ago
I'm more interested in how this update causes the issue. What is the mechanism?
sebbu 1y ago
It seems like it only concerns IIS (and/or SChannel), and only for HTTP/2 (and maybe 3?). I use apache and openssl and doesn't have any issue.
rappatic 1y ago
How does an operating system even function without localhost? This is absurd I can't believe this was caught by even a single one of the 5,000 devs working on Windows.
- gloosx 1y ago
  there are just 50 100x devs now working on Windows
- ziml77 1y ago
  It's not localhost that's broken, it's a specific mechanism of using the OS HTTP libraries to bind a service (possibly even limited to HTTP/2 ones) to localhost. Which is still a crazy bug to ship with but a much different problem from localhost being blanket broken.
mrandish 1y ago
Windows 11 has been a failure technically and as a product concept - and I say this as a multi-decade daily end user and general fan of the Windows OS technology. Before Win11, every version of Windows generally got better in meaningful ways. Sure, there were occasionally some odd ideas tried but they'd get dropped in fairly short order. And of course there were bugs as is inevitable with any commercial product this big, serving this many disparate user types across such a wide hardware footprint. But for the most part, Windows improved over time and users felt like MSFT was at least trying to do the right thing, even when they stumbled. But things feel very different with Windows 11. Microsoft now removes useful features like task bar Quick Launch folders, even though millions of customers used them. Why? Because they 'distract' from the 'Start Menu Experience (tm)' which MSFT now views as a Primary Monetization Surface. Most of the user-visible changes happening in Windows 11 aren't about improving user workflows but instead are focused on increasing MSFT's ability to upsell, cross-promote and drive adoption of monetizable features. This isn't some short-term UX fad that'll pass in a year or two. It's a fundamental shift in the entire Windows business. The purpose of Windows is no longer first and foremost improving the OS to be more useful, powerful, complete, efficient and bug-free. As a user, it felt like there was still some focus on being a state-of-the-art Operating System, that values like technical correctness and orthogonal completeness were at least debated. The priorities now seem to be: 1. Enabling new monetization vectors, 2. Reducing and streamlining the OS to be cheaper to maintain with a smaller, less skilled staff, 3. See #1 and #2.

177 points by marksamman 1y ago

Link at bottom has some results about sudden, recent localhost failures working for several years, today localhost not found after GUI reboot attempt localhost and 127.0.0.1 should be the same, it seems strange they shows different results. wusa /uninstall /kb:5066835 (restart) wusa /uninstall /kb:5066131 (restart) wusa /uninstall /kb:5065789 (restart) ref: https://kagi.com/search?q=windows+localhost+not+working&dr=2&r=us&sh=vsnvW1VvE1l2iwkxZfjCUw https://kagi.com/search?q=windows+localhost+not+working&dr=2...

dehugger 1y ago

I'm shocked there's not more traction on this post. Breaking localhost is almost unthinkable to me. Of all the things network unit testing should cover, that's pretty close to the top.

eddie_catflap 1y ago
Same. The incident calls I'm on this morning agree too
nebula8804 1y ago
They probably have ChatGPT running their test suite or some nonsense like that now.
sidewndr46 1y ago
I imagine Microsoft expects everything to be done in the cloud using AI, so localhost is considered deprecated now.
- AnonymousPlanet 1y ago
  In that case localhost is their competition.
- 1718627440 1y ago
  If you the loopback address doesn't work how can every other address work, that builds on top of this.

d3Xt3r 1y ago

Windows keeps becoming more and more worse and bloated every month. This month's update bumped up the install.wim by 400MB! And last month's update added a similar amount of bulk. It's insane how much junk Microsoft keeps adding to the OS, whilst breaking core functionality.

ronsor 1y ago
Every time they add new things to the OS, the old functionality is crushed under the weight of the new.
pjmlp 1y ago
Agreed, yet I don't see people rushing out to buy GNU/Linux powered laptops at Media Markt, because there aren't any.
- tmtvl 1y ago
  And it's very odd. You can find Microsoft and Apple laptops in many stores, but for GNU/Linux you basically have to go to speciality shops. Now, obviously, MS isn't going to be doing the whole 'if you don't sell non-Windows machines we'll give you a better deal' malarkey any more because they've learned that the court will bring the hammer down with a righteous fury when MS does that kind of anti-competitive nonsense (just remember the whole bundled browser saga), so it's weird. I suppose it could just be the vicious cycle of 'no GNU/Linux laptops in stores' -> 'people don't know about GNU/Linux laptops' -> 'there's no demand' -> 'no GNU/Linux laptops in stores'. A problem which can only be solved by people in the know informing the general public (informing the public is always better than merely voting with one's wallet because multiple wallets > one wallet).
  - rkomorn 1y ago
    I've bought multiple laptops that either shipped with Linux or were widely recognized as Linux-friendly. They all functioned better (hardware support wise) with Windows than Linux. I don't buy that it's just an issue of informing the general public. The products need to be better. And yes, I'm very familiar with all the anecdotes about how people's relatives have never been happier since they switched them over to Linux.

usui 1y ago

I'm more interested in how this update causes the issue. What is the mechanism?

sebbu 1y ago

It seems like it only concerns IIS (and/or SChannel), and only for HTTP/2 (and maybe 3?). I use apache and openssl and doesn't have any issue.

rappatic 1y ago

How does an operating system even function without localhost? This is absurd I can't believe this was caught by even a single one of the 5,000 devs working on Windows.

gloosx 1y ago
there are just 50 100x devs now working on Windows
ziml77 1y ago
It's not localhost that's broken, it's a specific mechanism of using the OS HTTP libraries to bind a service (possibly even limited to HTTP/2 ones) to localhost. Which is still a crazy bug to ship with but a much different problem from localhost being blanket broken.

mrandish 1y ago

Windows 11 has been a failure technically and as a product concept - and I say this as a multi-decade daily end user and general fan of the Windows OS technology. Before Win11, every version of Windows generally got better in meaningful ways. Sure, there were occasionally some odd ideas tried but they'd get dropped in fairly short order. And of course there were bugs as is inevitable with any commercial product this big, serving this many disparate user types across such a wide hardware footprint. But for the most part, Windows improved over time and users felt like MSFT was at least trying to do the right thing, even when they stumbled. But things feel very different with Windows 11. Microsoft now removes useful features like task bar Quick Launch folders, even though millions of customers used them. Why? Because they 'distract' from the 'Start Menu Experience (tm)' which MSFT now views as a Primary Monetization Surface. Most of the user-visible changes happening in Windows 11 aren't about improving user workflows but instead are focused on increasing MSFT's ability to upsell, cross-promote and drive adoption of monetizable features. This isn't some short-term UX fad that'll pass in a year or two. It's a fundamental shift in the entire Windows business. The purpose of Windows is no longer first and foremost improving the OS to be more useful, powerful, complete, efficient and bug-free. As a user, it felt like there was still some focus on being a state-of-the-art Operating System, that values like technical correctness and orthogonal completeness were at least debated. The priorities now seem to be: 1. Enabling new monetization vectors, 2. Reducing and streamlining the OS to be cheaper to maintain with a smaller, less skilled staff, 3. See #1 and #2.