Microsoft has begun rolling out KB5020044, a new preview update for Windows 11 that introduces a lengthy list of improvements to the relatively new OS, including an anticipated fix for an issue that could potentially result in reduced performance and stuttering in certain games and applications, as bolded in the Improvements portion of the changelog below:
Highlights
- New! It gives Microsoft OneDrive subscribers storage alerts on the Systems page in the Settings app. The alerts appear when you are close to your storage limit. You can also manage your storage and purchase additional storage, if needed.
- New! It provides the full amount of the storage capacity of all your OneDrive subscriptions. It also displays the total storage on the Accounts page in the Settings app.
- New! It combines Windows Spotlight with Themes on the Personalization page. This makes it easier for you to discover and turn on the Windows Spotlight feature.
- It addresses an issue that affects some modern applications. It stops them from opening.
- It addresses a known issue that affects the Input Method Editor (IME). Certain applications might stop responding. This occurs when you use keyboard shortcuts to change the input mode of the IME.
- It addresses an issue that causes File Explorer to stop working. This occurs when you close context menus and menu items.
- It addresses an issue that might cause certain apps to stop responding. This occurs when you use the Open File dialog.
- It addresses the suspension of daylight saving time (DST) in the Republic of Fiji for this year.
Improvements
- New! It gives Microsoft OneDrive subscribers storage alerts on the Systems page in the Settings app. The alerts appear when you are close to your storage limit. You can also manage your storage and purchase additional storage, if needed.
- New! It provides the full amount of the storage capacity of all your OneDrive subscriptions. It also displays the total storage on the Accounts page in the Settings app.
- New! It combines Windows Spotlight with Themes on the Personalization page. This makes it easier for you to discover and turn on the Windows Spotlight feature.
- New! It adds a new mobile device management (MDM) policy for organizational messages. It gives your company the option to enroll tenant devices so that they receive custom messages from you. For example, you can use Intune to write the messages. They will render within Windows.
- It addresses an issue that affects some modern applications. It stops them from opening.
- It addresses an issue that affects some devices that are managed by an enterprise. We improve the reliability of app installations for them.
- It addresses the suspension of daylight saving time (DST) in the Republic of Fiji for this year.
- It addresses an issue that affects Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) authentication hardening. We will automatically raise the authentication level for all non-anonymous activation requests from DCOM clients to RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_PKT_INTEGRITY. This occurs if the authentication level is below Packet Integrity.
- It addresses an issue that affects Unified Update Platform (UUP) on-premises customers. It removes the block that stops them from getting offline language packs.
- It addresses an issue that affects process creation. It fails to create security audits for it and other related audit events.
- It addresses an issue that affects cluster name objects (CNO) or virtual computer objects (VCO). Password reset fails. The error message is, ” There was an error resetting the AD password… // 0x80070005”.
- It addresses an issue that affects transparency in layered windows. This occurs when you are in High Definition remote applications integrated locally (RAIL) mode.
- It addresses a known issue that affects the Input Method Editor (IME). Certain applications might stop responding. This occurs when you use keyboard shortcuts to change the input mode of the IME.
- It addresses an issue that affects microphone streams that use the Listen To feature to route to the speaker endpoint. The microphone stops working after you restart the device.
- It addresses an issue that might affect applications that run on the Windows Lock Down Policy (WLDP). They might stop working.
- It addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Defender when it is not the primary antivirus. Microsoft Defender fails to turn off passive mode. This issue occurs when you turn off Smart App Control (SAC).
- It adds .wcx to the list of Dangerous Extensions that some app control policies do not allow.
- It addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Automated investigation blocks live response investigations.
- It addresses an issue that affects printing in landscape mode in Microsoft Edge. The print output is incorrect. This issue occurs when you use Microsoft Defender Application Guard.
- It addresses an issue that causes File Explorer to stop working. This occurs when you close context menus and menu items.
- It addresses an issue that might cause certain apps to stop responding. This occurs when you use the Open File dialog.
- It addresses an issue that sometimes affects File Explorer when you open a file. Because of this, there is high CPU usage.
- It addresses an issue that affects protocol activation of the Settings app. The app fails to open a page under the Accounts category.
- It addresses an issue that affects a computer account. Use of non-standard characters can stop the cleanup of the Out of Box Experience (OOBE) accounts.
- It addresses an issue that affects the CopyFile function. It might sometimes return error 317: ERROR_MR_MID_NOT_FOUND.
- It addresses an issue that affects the Windows Firewall service. It does not start when you turn on the Override block rules option.
- It addresses an issue that affects some games and applications. This issue is related to GPU performance debugging features. This lowers the expected game performance.
- It addresses an issue that affects cumulative update installations. They fail, and the error code is 0x800f0806.
“Some games and apps might experience lower than expected performance or stuttering on Windows 11, version 22H2,” Microsoft previously warned in a support post, explaining that the issues lies with affected games and apps inadvertently enabling GPU performance debugging features that weren’t meant to be used by consumers.
Released by Microsoft in September, Windows 11 22H2 added a number of new features to the OS, including tabs in File Explorer and enhancements to Snap layouts.
Discussion (15 replies)
Join Discussion →Anyone tested this yet? Not that it really matters, I'm not on 11 and have no immediate plans to be.
My system didn't show any optional updates, but I've not noticed any issues with lower frames in the 2-3 games I play either.
I still can't get 22H2 to load on my gaming desktop. I recall 22H1 being a similar pain, may have to rebuild it soon. Don't use 11 on much else, it's my only box with Intel's hybrid arch (Alder Lake/12th-gen+).
Same here.
I'll give it another year before I jump into 11. Still happy with 10. Probably the 1st time in well over a decade that I'm not even tinkering with a new OS on at least one rig but everything is working the way it should right now and I just don't want any unexpected OS-related issues.
Well, my 5700G system upgraded to 11 last night without hassle. That system I've been using the past week to test memory - got a Patriot 4400 CL19 kit running solid at 4400 CL19, and a Team Group 3600 CL14 kit running at 4133 CL19, the latter of which was installed when I did the upgrade to 11, over RDP.
Yes, I did a Windows upgrade over RDP on a system with overclocked RAM. Fight me!
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I mean on a server with a management interface (cimc, rilo, drac, etc) sure. On a random consumer desktop... you are a brave one
A less than flattering still. Makes him look like an ugly blow-up doll.
I thought that's what he was?
While I've been using Win10 since launch, I actually did not put it on my main system until 2022. I had a chance to go straight to Win11, but after using Win11 in a VM for several months I decided against that. On my next system I will probably roll Win11 just cuz Win10 stopped getting real updates (no tabbed File Explorer, gimped DirectStorage, no Dark Mode for Task Manager, CPU Task Scheduler not updated for AMD Zen 4 or Intel Alder Lake and Raptor Lake, etc), and I want my gaming OS to be as up-to-date as possible. Honestly by the time I get a new machine Win10 might be EoL anyways. Win10 took 3-4 years after launch to get decent in my opinion, so I'm expecting the same for Win11.
Plus Win11 is not gonna be my main OS, so whatever issues I have with it will bother me less when I'm not living in that OS all the time. After Win7, Windows OSes became my "console OS." Nowadays I only boot into Windows to play games that don't work well in Linux (ie most of them LAWLZ), to run software that I can't run in Linux (and don't wanna run in a VM or through something like WINE), or if I otherwise have something I need to do/check in Windows. I basically treat Windows as a gaming console, so to speak. Win10 on my main system is currently my secondary OS, and the same will happen with Win11 whenever I eventually move to it. By that's not gonna be any dang time soon.
To be fair, I wouldn't call those "real" updates on Win11 either. For as many things as they might seem to improve, they regress in others. And so far that hasn't been zero-sum - the regressions are winning by a landslide.
I'd drop back to Win10 if I had to re-install, but given that I only use my PC for a few specific things, I can't be bothered to do a downgrade.
I will say, I just had to battle with a couple of cheapy laptops -- needed Windows out at a site to talk to some industrial controllers. So I picked up a couple out at Best Buy and ...
Holy $+%*
Can't set up without a Microsoft account - well we didn't have internet at the site, so at least once that failed it let us create a local accounnt. Then we couldn't install the software because S-mode enabled by default... and you can't turn it off without downloading an "App" from the Microsoft Store, which requires a Microsoft Account... Apparently you can regedit it, but can't run Regedit in S-mode... so...
We ended up driving out to a Starbucks so we could hotspot it and making a fake gmail microsoft account to get the damn thing to move on. Nearly an entire day spent just to install a 8Mb piece of software that can talk to a DB-9 serial communication device.
My one gripe about Apple going to ARM -- in the past I'd just run Windows in a VM and be done with it. But this software wouldn't run on ARM version of Windows for some reason, so needed an Intel native computer.
Yeah, every time I have to do a fresh install of 10 I've seen crap change for the last few years, they keep moving the options to create a local or skip around. I kind of figured it would progressively get worse with 11. Seriously, friggin' idiots to make it so you have to have online connectivity just for the 1st power up. Ought to be a law against that.
I'm sure if I bought a laptop with Win Pro I could have worked around it. But a) I didn't realize it had got this bad, and b) a laptop with WinPro preinstalled is much more expensive than the $350 HP POS that I got (at least to find one on the shelf)
And, in MS's defense, they do let you set up the laptop without an internet connection. You can eventually get to the desktop - it just isn't obvious. But then you get to the "Locked in S-Mode" bullshit and then you get stuck only being able to run whatever happens to be pre-installed on the laptop, since S-mode only lets you run software obtained via the Windows Store. Might as well have bought an iPad.