Blue screens, gone: Microsoft puts an end to the problems caused by an optional Windows 11 update, and you don’t even have to do anything to fix your PC
Earlier this week we reported on issues caused by the recent optional update KB5043145 for Windows 11, and Microsoft’s efforts to provide a solution to those affected. Fortunately, Microsoft has now seemingly provided a solution in the form of a Known Issue Rollback (KIR), a feature that allows Microsoft to quickly undo problematic changes caused by a Windows update without uninstalling the entire update.
Even better, it’s applied automatically through Windows Update, solving the intended problem without you having to intervene. This KIR has only just been released and may take up to 24 hours to be applied to your PC; The registry writes that restarting your PC can speed up the process.
KB5043145 is said to be the September 2024 non-security preview showing some of the changes coming soon to the operating system. Unfortunately, it appeared that some users had encountered issues, which was made even more alarming by the fact that the next major annual feature update for Windows 11, 24H2, will be arriving very soon.
What happened for some users with KB5043145?
Some users experienced serious issues such as random repeated reboots, system crashes causing the dreaded blue (or green) screen of death, and launching the Windows Automatic Repair tool or even BitLocker. Some people also had problems connecting to USB drives or their Wi-Fi, as well as problems for users running Linux on their Windows devices.
The issues thankfully weren’t fatal to anyone’s PC, and Microsoft’s Windows 11 releases have historically been known to sometimes cause more problems than they fix. While it can be inconvenient – and counters the intent of updates like KB5043145, which were intended to bring OS improvements – Microsoft is pretty good at recognizing problems and releasing fixes.
It appears that Microsoft has not paused the update (and I would add that it is not doing any major damage everyone trying to install it), but it may be best to wait for the next mandatory update instead of installing this optional update now. I expect that the useful improvements contained in this update will be included in a larger monthly update or even in a version of 24H2, which will hopefully be stable when it is eventually installed on users’ computers.
