Facepalm: Microsoft wants Windows 11 users to always install the latest patches for the operating system, especially now that it only supports a single edition. However, allowing Windows Update to run unchecked can sometimes create problems for individual users and businesses.
Now that Microsoft's OS division is focused almost exclusively on Windows 11, users would rightfully expect the Redmond corporation to deliver a largely bug-free experience. Yet every new cumulative update introduces additional issues for a platform that should reliably power hundreds of millions of PCs worldwide.
Case in point: the recently released October update (KB5066835) introduced a critical issue with USB mice and keyboards in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). After installing the cumulative update, WinRE tools became essentially unusable – except for retro hardware enthusiasts using older PS/2 input peripherals.
WinRE is an "emergency" recovery system that users access when the normal OS boot process fails. Based on the lightweight Windows Preinstallation Environment, WinRE includes troubleshooting tools such as automatic boot repair, System Restore, the Memory Diagnostic Tool, Command Prompt, and more.
The WinRE interface is now part of the standard Windows 11 feature set. It can be a handy tool for repairing an unbootable system without resorting to more drastic measures such as a complete OS reinstallation. The faulty KB5066835 update posed a serious problem for power users or system administrators needing to access WinRE after installing the patch.
The situation was serious enough that Microsoft quickly acted to restore USB support in WinRE. The company has released the KB5070773 update for Windows 11 24H2 and later versions. The out-of-band patch fixes the input bug in WinRE, and Microsoft confirms that USB peripherals will continue to work as intended within the standard Windows environment.
The troubled October updates serve as a reminder that Windows is experiencing a notable decline in quality. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently stated that up to 30 percent of the company's code is now written by AI – a fact that seems evident each time a new Windows update arrives on Patch Tuesday. However, in the agentic AI future of Windows that Microsoft aims to introduce by 2030, traditional USB keyboards and mice may become obsolete.