Worried about that taskbar-breaking bug spotted in Windows 11 last month? Good news: It’s fixed in Microsoft’s latest update
The latest update for Windows 11 (for July 2024) is out, and it brings a fix for a known issue where the taskbar was actually broken (not for the first time this year).
While the bug had a limited impact, it certainly affected some Windows 11 users when it was first discovered in the preview of the latest Cumulative Update (released in late June).
That preview update (KB5039302) was optional and you could bypass it, but the fear for us (and no doubt for others) was that Microsoft wouldn’t fix the bug before this preview became a full release. That happened yesterday with patch KB5040442.
Fortunately, this new update, which will be mandatory for all Windows 11 users (although it may take a while), contains the fix.
In the release notesMicrosoft notes that KB5040442 addresses a known issue where “you may not be able to view or interact with the taskbar after you install KB5039302 [the June preview update].”
Analysis: From Reboot Hell to Taskbar Trauma
As mentioned, the impact of the taskbar bug was limited. It only affected people running a Windows N edition – a Windows 11 installation with media-related functionality removed (such as Media Player) – or people who had disabled Media Features in the Control Panel.
Still, those would certainly be Windows 11 users, and after seeing the bug pop up in last month’s optional update – or perhaps even seeing the taskbar glitch right away when they downloaded the preview update – as we’ve seen, those folks might be a little apprehensive about installing this new July update. But there’s no reason to worry.
All in all, this is a bit odd, especially since the June preview update was actually paused for a while after a bug was found that caused a reboot loop (a really annoying situation). Once that was fixed (by freezing affected devices) and the rollout resumed, this taskbar glitch was discovered – so it certainly wasn’t Microsoft’s best update moment.
There’s no mention of the reboot loop bug with the new July update, by the way, so we’re assuming it remains blocked on any PCs that may have been affected. If you can’t see the July Cumulative Update, this could be why. We’re assuming that if it had been fixed as well, Microsoft would have mentioned it – though it’s possible that a fix has been applied and not included in the release notes.
Through Newwin
