It hasn’t been a full week since Windows 10 was sent to the pasture, and its four-year-old successor has had an update introduce multiple bugs. Another day, another issue, as it appears that Microsoft’s QA engineers may be asleep at the wheel. The latest arrives in an update for the Windows 11 25H2 build, which was launched only a few weeks ago. This time around, an update has removed keyboard and mouse functionality from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). The WinRE toolkit is a useful fallback for those who need to reinstall Windows or attempt various other recovery options. Still, unless the user has a touchscreen, it becomes useless without user input.
“After installing the Windows security update released on October 14, 2025 (KB5066835), USB devices, such as keyboards and mice, do not function in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE),”
-Microsoft
Build 26100.6899 (KB5066835) introduced this, and several other bugs, one of which included breaking localhost. Developers have reported HTTP/2 protocol errors, thus preventing access to web applications. Fortunately, there are some workarounds ranging from uninstalling the update, and in some cases its predecessor, to using regedit to disable it. Another issue has been broken DRM services, causing some apps to be unable to play DVD/Blu-ray and digital TV content. As if all this isn’t enough, there can be smartcard authentication issues due to updates to Windows Cryptographic services, and updates via WUSA might fail to install via a shared network folder. Clearly, an update to avoid.
Last but not least, the day before Windows 10 was set for EoL, Microsoft managed to break the Windows media creation tool. While this bug affects Windows 10 machines, it ironically prevents users from creating a Windows 11 installation using their own PC. The good news is that, should users still wish to do so, they can directly download a file from Microsoft to create a bootable USB installer.
“The Windows 11 media creation tool version 26100.6584, released September 29, 2025, might not work as expected when used on Windows 10 devices. The media creation tool might close unexpectedly, displaying no error message.”
-Microsoft
Well, it’s a new week, and hopefully Microsoft’s engineers can resolve these issues before more are introduced.