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Windows 11 25H2 October Update Bug Renders Recovery Environment Unusable

• lioeters 1y ago
  > this update disrupts mouse and keyboard functionality within the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), making them unresponsive > Early last week, Microsoft accidentally broke the Windows Media Creation Tool (MCT) just a day ahead of Windows 10's end-of-life. Additionally, the company began requiring Online Accounts for Windows 11 installations, making them increasingly difficult to bypass. > Every previously reported issue has been addressed or resolved, except for the broken localhost functionality and now this WinRE problem.
  • izacus 1y ago
    Wonder if they used Copilot for coding those features and then AI to review them. I bet the productivity of the engineers was off the charts for that one.
    • janwl 1y ago
      AI is bad and therefore everything that is bad was made using AI.
    • sebazzz 1y ago
      Microsoft has been offshoring a lot. QA and implementation. If not given the proper attention, those overworked people can't deliver.
• Velocifyer 1y ago
  At this point Arch Linux is more stable than Losedows 11.
  • edoceo 1y ago
    Windoesnt
  • reisse 1y ago
    Not "more", but they're on the same level. I was hit with recovery bug today on my Windows desktop, and with totally fubar-d Gnome 49.1 release on Arch laptop just yesterday :/
    • eek2121 1y ago
      For me, right now, CachyOS is "more". I do run KDE, however, and I don't use a ton of 3rd party themes/plugins/stuff (which will break any install). I've used Arch on both servers and on desktop for a few years, and the only issue I ever had was pacman breaking due to both signing and file conflicts. I also had this on Debian and Ubuntu, (apt just simply stopped working, and nothing I did would make it work), so it isn't unique to Arch. I'm not being defensive of Arch, I just think a lot of folks think rolling release = bugs. For the ones that do have stuff break, they typically modify their environment with huge customizations that would break anything, including Debian, Ubuntu, Windows, or any other OS. I'll report back if my CachyOS install ever breaks, however, the only reason I stopped using Arch prior to this was that I was playing a few games that didn't work. Now, they do, and I don't really play new games or games with anti-cheat, and all my other software (I'm a retired/disabled dev) works fine.
• varispeed 1y ago
  Has Microsoft switched to vibe coding? Seems like the last series of blunders coincide with Coidiot rollout.
  • EarthIsHome 1y ago
    eating their own dogfood
  • franczesko 1y ago
    Switched? The Windows Insider has 3 different tiers for testers: Dev, Beta and Release preview and still update rollouts are an example of how not to do it
    • varispeed 1y ago
      It's not like their customers have a choice. If software you depend on only works on Windows you can't just say I'm done with this circus, where is my Ubuntu stick. Seems like a massive gap for regulators to close as some might say Microsoft is abusing their privileged position. Though I wouldn't hold my hopes up. Given how they have penetrated many governments with their services and software, they might thread carefully before getting Microsoft to act decent (see inaction over sentencing millions of PCs to landfill - at odds with many countries environment policies, but most politicians keep their head in the sand).
  • pjmlp 1y ago
    They got rid of most QA people, and nowadays apparently devs do QA as well, except that apparently not much of it, like in large majority of companies, where testing and docs come last. Then there is the whole AI KPIs that most companies are pushing on their employees, and given CoPilot, they surely must be pushing a lot.
    • PunchyHamster 1y ago
      Closed tickets look better on KPI than re-opened ones
    • 1y ago
• dev1ycan 1y ago
  Microsoft is just completely pathetic, it's become completely opposite of what companies want and it wouldn't surprise me if it becomes politics soon to switch to Linux on office spaces.
  • kachapopopow 1y ago
    office 365 is the only thing stopping people from switching to linux as the only current alternative is ironically chromeos (android office) and macos (fully supported by microsoft)
    • echohack5 1y ago
      Office because lawyers send docs in .docx format like it was written in the blood of the Benjamin Franklin DirectX because steam defacto runs on Windows only for the vast majority of games, and not everyone wants a steam deck form I can't think of any other S tier use cases tbh
      • jayd16 1y ago
        Drivers and such are still usually windows first.
      • esseph 1y ago
        I'm 100% gaming on Fedora with proton and have been for quite awhile. Playing Arc Raiders now on Linux just fine, and several other new games. Not BF6 though, that requires you to basically install a windows rootkit.
      • kachapopopow 1y ago
        directx to vulkan works good enough these days, what breaks is DRM, anti-piracy and anticheats.
      • potwinkle 1y ago
        99% of Steam games work great on Linux now thanks to Proton. You might be thinking of how it was back in 2015.
• BoppreH 1y ago
  Between these issues, the end of support for Windows 10, and the total lack of respect for customers ("yes/maybe later" is unacceptable), I'm happy for my recent switch to Linux. Fedora Kinoite (atomic + KDE) has been a breath of fresh air. The Dolphin file manager alone was worth the switch, and connecting my phone via KDE Connect is the most excited I've been about software in a while. The atomic part has been surprisingly painless. It hasn't been free from small bugs (what software is, nowadays?), but at least I know they're not there because of greed, so it pushes me towards contributing instead of hating the developers.
  • Refreeze5224 1y ago
    KDE Connect is a wonderful piece of software, and works on more than just KDE! Most distros are supported, I believe.
    • mook 1y ago
      KDE Connect works on Windows, and I think mac too. I get the feeling that it's really just people making stuff for themselves and sharing it with the world, and not trying to "win" in some fashion.
      • BoppreH 1y ago
        It's still limited by the features the OS supports. For example, on Windows you can't mount the phone's filesystem wirelessly.
        • heavyset_go 1y ago
          If someone puts in the work, KDE Connect uses sshfs behind the scenes and sshfs is available for Windows. Don't know about licensing, though.
        • devinprater 1y ago
          Wow, you can mount the phone's filesystem wirelessly with it? That's just plain amazing!
• bkraz 1y ago
  In Win11 as admin, take ownership of the following files, and remove all permissions for the system user. This prevents any updates and can be easily undone at any time. I turned off updates, and life is much better. I no longer feel guilty about having my system "at risk". It's no longer worth the pain of updates. C:\Windows\System32\WaaSMedicSvc.dll C:\Windows\System32\usosvc.dll C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll
  • 2OEH8eoCRo0 1y ago
    Our update trust has been abused
  • prmoustache 1y ago
    I'd rather use a non broken operating system than disable updates.
  • tacker2000 1y ago
    Yea at this point updating stuff is just almost more pain than pleasure, since new features are very limited nowadays and most of the time things end up being more broken. For example, the latest MacOS sequoia security update broke the touch id reader when logging in, i need to type my password now everytime. And lets not forget about the new glass design and UI changes in the latest iOS. Im pretty tired of updates at this point and will push them out unless absolutely necessary.
    • esseph 1y ago
      > Im pretty tired of updates at this point and will push them out unless absolutely necessary. As a systems guy by trade and now a security guy by role, that scares the every living fuck out of me.
      • Root_Denied 1y ago
        Same boat here, but I'm not surprised in the slightest. I'd also argue that the inevitable fallout from large numbers of people making a similar decision is on Microsoft, not the individuals.
• boznz 1y ago
  Microsoft updates feel like they are boiling the frog, changing the whole OS to something you never signed up for. Why can't they stick to just security and stick their bloatware AI crap in Windows 12
  • keyringlight 1y ago
    There's been a little bit of a trend with windows that things they start experimenting with towards the end of the life of version N become a focus for version N+1. In the case of windows 11, they had been trying to get onto the dual-display portables wave with a "Windows 10X", but cancelled it and brought much of the UI over to 11 to a mild reception. I'd be really surprised if they don't try and leverage AI as much as they can with the next full version (and whatever fun name they give it). More to the point, I'd agree I'd love it if they had a widely available basic version and a separate version where they can chase the latest shiny object, but I can't see them being motivated to do that in the foreseeable future.
• k8sToGo 1y ago
  This is affecting me. I created a new Veeam Backup recovery USB and mouse and keyboard isn't working. Ridiculous how this got past testing.
• pks016 1y ago
  Windows 11 rant: My home mini pc is having Bluetooth issues from last 6-7 months after some update. I can't go back, tried every possible solutions. Best option: wait for them to fix it. The issue: Sometimes if the Windows boot normally, Bluetooth won't turn on. I have to force restart to have it on. My guess is it's trying to optimize the power or something. I gave up. My other laptop and work computer are still Windows 10, so some sanity left. I have installed kubuntu on another spare laptop and slowing moving towards linux entirely.
  • prinny_ 1y ago
    I had the same bluetooth issue on windows 11. It stopped working. I didn't even have the option to see the bluetooth setting. All my peripherals stopped working and I had to bring out the cables. Then one day after a month or so it was fixed.
  • mycall 1y ago
    Perhaps try a clean Win11 install using latest updates on an external drive, to see if that fixes your Bluetooth. Sometimes Windows borks itself and everything needs to be reinstalled.
• imbnwa 1y ago
  Whyis quality dropping like this between Windows and macOS? Is this asking this even just rose-tinted glasses on the past?
  • szundi 1y ago
    [dead]
  • dijit 1y ago
    Some things are better than they've ever been, so there's some amount of rose-tinted glasses. The thing is, I've been aware of the power of MacOS and especially Windows to alter my computing environment against my wishes under the threat of not being patched for a while, and it's something nobody else seems to care about even when I pointed it out. As much as things are better on all operating systems (drivers aren't really a problem anymore, for example, and chargers are practically universal, and battery-life is glorious!)- there are things that are really shitty, and we ignore the solved problems. I'm now also feeling a huge amount of catharsis. Linux, however, has genuinely never been better.
  • anal_reactor 1y ago
    There's no business reason to keep the quality high. As long as the happy path works it's grand.
• cheschire 1y ago
  I was running Mint on a 256GB SATA SSD for about 6 months before finally just making the switch and moving it to my 2TB M.2 NVMe drive. But I had to put my Windows install somewhere because some rare games like Battlefield 6 require onerous anticheat access at the kernel level and refuse to support Linux, so I moved it to my 256GB drive where Linux used to be. I did that on Friday. And Windows corrupted itself on every boot. Eventually I gave up trying to make it work and shoved it onto a small partition on the end of my M.2 drive. The SSD is a bit older and has some errors on it but Linux worked just fine, but Windows couldn't handle the drive. Reminded me of the meme about roses dying if the pH balance of the soil isn't perfect, but daisies are like "Fuck yeah, concrete!" growing in literal cracks in the sidewalk. I wonder if my problems were related to them fucking with things, or if it's just a coincidence.
• riedel 1y ago
  This update seems to be a real mess. It tries to install for since days and always stops at 38% and then rolls back. Instead of a reasonable error message it keeps retrying, rendering my laptop unusable for 30 min.
  • greycol 1y ago
    Best of luck, had that crop up occasionally with multiple updates as one offs across multiple machines. Sometimes all the typical troubleshooting steps (troubleshooter, clearing local update files, local repairs) won't fix it and your best option is to do a "upgrade" install with 'keep all files' selected using the media creation tool.
  • fuzzfactor 1y ago
    That could be a symptom of a number of things. One problem that matches that behavior but is under-recognized, you might not have enough space in your Recovery partition. If so this can be a showstopper you are expected to have your IT department on top of.
    • riedel 11mo ago
      I went through the list that ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity gave me. I can rule out the recovery partition and the update cache at least. I think one part was the windows sandbox feature which is known to make problems. Got a new error after deinstalling. It is just plain frustrating however. Having a PhD in computer science and looking for the needle in the haystack to just be able to use your PC in a reasonable way. If I did not have to use awkward SAP Excel Pluginsto connect to our accounting and other MS stuff, this episode nearly triggered me to finally switch to a decent OS I somehow can understand again.
• maldev 1y ago
  I'm a really big windows expert. I've reverse engineered alot of it. Big fanboy, one of the most knowledgeable people about it. Ever since interviewing and declining a Microsoft position, it's clear the people their are absolute idiots. My first interview round as a C++/C kernel dev, was for a C# job? I passed and got the offer, then they send me for a systems admin role after I decline? From recruiters, to actual engineers there, the level of incompetence was insane. I will NEVER work or support this company in any way until they get rid of all the H1BSlop they have pushing these horrible updates. I think Apple and Meta are the only major tech companies not held up by velocity and actually have functional organizations. It's not a surprise seeing all of these bugs. And there's multiple bug reports i've submitted that go unsolved in their win32 or kernel API's. ESPECIALLY for new features. It's sad how they've fallen so much. If I can find these bugs in 5 minutes using IDA, how come they aren't catching it in code reviews?
  • mycall 1y ago
    Why haven't you reached out to the MS Kernel Core team? They have various ways to contact them. That would put you on the right course to the right team instead of the front door approach, assuming they are interested.
    • maldev 1y ago
      Honestly, I was working for the government and now work for a antivirus company where I work remote and make a very good wage and have an amazing WLB. Maybe once I have kids I will, but being a mid 30's bachelor where I am now is heaven. The reason for the mismatch was the cleared positions are Azure, so was hoping for a position as a developer on the Defender product, but they don't really have that in the cleared space.
• mihaaly 1y ago
  Keyboard troubles?! I wonder if this is related to what I experienced. After the update (update and shoutdown reliably updates and restarts again, does not shut down) a parctice of mine switching Control and Fn keys on my Mac so Control key function gets into the same physical position as Ctrl on the PC keyboard, so using Windwos through Microsoft Remote Desktop and at the keyboard of the Windows computer is a smoother switch, is not working anymore. Windows, through the Remote Desktop does not register the Fn key as Ctrl anymore. The whole thing does not make sense to me. The Remote Desktop software on Mac did not change, MacOS should send Remote Desktop the signal of Control key pressed when pressing Fn, the Windows update shall have no effect, yet the sole change here was the Windows update when this annoying thing emerged. I simply had no time to dive into diagnostics and find the underlying reason, it is less resource intensive and less painfull - but one more annoyance on top of the many concerning Windows use - learning to use different Ctrl button location on Mac and PC keyboard again (done before, before learning the Control <> Fn switch trick).
• novaleaf 1y ago
  Some very bad regressions recently. the update immediately prior to this broke password protected fileshares. Had to wait weeks for a patch to be deployed. What's worse, is that so many similar problems have occured over the last 20 years is that when you try to search for the problem, you are highly likely to not find the actual cause+workaround, but will instead find one from years before that doesn't exactly apply to the current situation.
• vinyl7 1y ago
  Vibe coding takes its first global victim
• senectus1 1y ago
  Something in 25H2 breaks the "disable screen timeout" policy in intune as well. Some machine was have need their screens on 24/7 it was working fine til 25H2 came along and nothing we tried seemed to fix it. Edit: Oh an added to this is we have no policy allowing any machine to update to 25H2... yet somehow some machines did. Just another day in the MS ecosystem
• NoPicklez 1y ago
  Honestly, people need to start delaying their updates if possible by roughly a month depending on their severity, much like the corporate world. Better to leave an update in the wild for a couple of weeks before updating your own machine.
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• fuzzfactor 1y ago
  Also affects 24H2. Now there is a further update, KB5070773 which fixes this. Tried it and it works. So far.