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.
Discussion (16 replies)
Join Discussion →Par for the course. Wasn't really any different when it was just called Win10 though. Or Win8.
Don't recall Win7 being this bad, but it's been a while since they actively did anything for that and I may have had a few beers since then.
my take... this is exactly what happens when you have AI basically writing code. It's not capable enough for work like this and only focuses on the specific goal not the holistic approach.
Writing code with AI is like having an enthusiastic intern high on drugs working for you. It will confidently tell you things that aren't true, use functions that never existed. But it's still helpful because it does the busy work, all you have to do is clean up its mistakes. But MS probably already uses AI for QA too.
Especially since during the Win10 days they got rid of all the QA testers and were forcing the programmers to test their own code. That sure worked out well. I doubt they hired a whole buncha new testers for Win11. Why pay humans when AI can do it? They don't need to do a better job, just a cheaper job.
A friend showed me this: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/satya-nadella-says-as-much-as-30percent-of-microsoft-code-is-written-by-ai.html
I hope that is a fake headline, a fake article, and a joke.
Explains how they churn out so much crap. I logged into the 365 Online portal for the first time in a long time the other day and the amount of random crapware that exists there is astonishing.
And then, just now, I think -- oh a screen shot of that would be perfect for this post!
I go there, and only get the "See plans" and "Try for Free" - I can't get to the Sign in Button....
So yeah... I only say I doubt that article because I think he's lowballing that number.
So what you're saying here is. Grim is right. We should trust in Grim.
And to that I say...
Thank you. But I'm so humble I already knew that but wasn't going to state the obvious. ;)
You mean this?
and so one hotfix out:
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/10/18/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-october-2025-update-breaks-winre-recovery-input/[/URL]
Well, they fixed some stuff but now. . . .
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/10/30/windows-11-kb5067036-issue-task-manager-wont-close-and-duplicates-may-hurt-performance/[/URL]
The only logical explanation of how can a hotfix break a completely unrelated thing is if they are using AI to fix bugs.
Just let me put the damn start bar at the top of my screen MS. I honestly don't give a shit or have beef with Windows 11 outside of this issue.
Windows have all been more or less reskins of each other after 7. It's all the same inside power shell.
Had a user bring me their work laptop because it had an update giving problems. I fully expected it to be the current cumulative update that's been giving grief to so many. However, I was not prepared to find out the laptop had been to the future and back.
I think I figured it out, and it's not AI that's causing all these issues at Microsoft. NVIDIA finally let go of that intern who was releasing all those buggy drivers when the 50-series launched, and they landed an exec position in Microsoft's QA division.
And on that note . . .
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.techpowerup.com/342612/false-end-of-support-warning-appears-in-windows-10-despite-extended-support[/URL]
I swear, the facepalms never end.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.techpowerup.com/343149/microsoft-will-preload-windows-11-file-explorer-to-fix-bad-performance[/URL]