Windows 11 Support Thread

Cloud flare being down for a few hours the other day was annoying, but this would really get me foaming like some river up north.
I have now paused updates for 4 weeks - will see how it goes when the December 2025 Patch Tuesday 25H2 updates roll out... maybe it will be 3rd time lucky for me - not holding my breath though... ;)
 
I have now paused updates for 4 weeks - will see how it goes when the December 2025 Patch Tuesday 25H2 updates roll out... maybe it will be 3rd time lucky for me - not holding my breath though... ;)
The more I think about it the more I think Linux is probably best way forward for moi when I get new machine next year.
Well I have a new problem with Windows Update that doesn't go away as well as got a blue screen.

But I won't bore you guys with the usual.

Windows Sucks.
 
I use Windoze on my 12th Gen i5 Lenovo laptop for corporate client IT Training facilitation - Win 11 & MS Office 365 - so will have to suffer with all of its incessant foibles & failures with updates - but I'm seriously considering upgrading my old 5th Gen i3 Lenovo laptop to a flavour of Linux - probably Zorin OS... ;)
 
The more I think about it the more I think Linux is probably best way forward for moi when I get new machine next year.
As long as you don't do drive-mapping, you should be ok. It's weird that they have still not addressed this simple but important issue since forever...
 
As long as you don't do drive-mapping, you should be ok. It's weird that they have still not addressed this simple but important issue since forever...
Linux follows a slightly different philosophy, where it mounts drives and network shares into a unified filesystem tree. This works well. In Windows I sometimes use the WSL for the file operations instead of Windows itself.
 
For those who have remained on Windows 10 & haven't upgraded to Windows 11 as yet...

Windows 10 KB5072653 emergency update fixes ESU failure, 0x800f0922 affecting KB5068781 - Windows Latest​

Windows 10 KB5072653 is now rolling out, and it’s yet another emergency update, also known as an out-of-band update. This update should allow more PCs to install Windows 10’s Extended Security Updates (ESU). It looks like Microsoft finally patched 0x800f0922, which affected ESU installs on enterprise PCs.

As per the support document spotted by Windows Latest, KB5072653 is a “Licensing Preparation Package for Windows 10.” My understanding is that it allows PCs with corporate licensing to correctly apply Windows 10 ESUs, such as KB5068781, which shipped on November 11, 2025.

 

Microsoft Windows hits 40 years old: A visual walk down memory lane - PC World​

Windows went on sale 40 years ago. Here's the whole history of the operating system, from Windows 1 to 11 and everything in between.

1763777299915.png

On November 20th, 1985, a then not-so-big company called Microsoft announced that Windows was commercially available. Read the full story of the Microsoft operating system below.

 

HP and Dell disable HEVC support built into their laptops’ CPUs - Ars Technica​

HEVC licensing gets more expensive in January.

Some Dell and HP laptop owners have been befuddled by their machines’ inability to play HEVC/H.265 content in web browsers, despite their machines’ processors having integrated decoding support.

Laptops with sixth-generation Intel Core and later processors have built-in hardware support for HEVC decoding and encoding. AMD has made laptop chips supporting the codec since 2015. However, both Dell and HP have disabled this feature on some of their popular business notebooks.

HP discloses this in the data sheets for its affected laptops, which include the HP ProBook 460 G11 [PDF], ProBook 465 G11 [PDF], and EliteBook 665 G11 [PDF].

“Hardware acceleration for CODEC H.265/HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) is disabled on this platform,” the note reads.

Despite this notice, it can still be jarring to see a modern laptop’s web browser eternally load videos that play easily in media players.

 

Microsoft: Out-of-band update fixes Windows 11 hotpatch install loop - Bleeping Computer​

Microsoft has released the KB5072753 out-of-band cumulative update to fix a known issue causing the November 2025 KB5068966 hotpatch update to reinstall on Windows 11 systems repeatedly.

As the company explained in an update to the KB5068966 advisory, the Windows 11 25H2 hotpatch was being reoffered after installation.

"After installing the hotpatch update KB5068966 released November 11, 2025, affected devices repeatedly download and install the same update when a Windows Update scan is run," it said in a new Microsoft 365 Message Center entry.

However, Microsoft noted that this known issue doesn't affect system functionality and would only be noticed after checking the timestamp in the update history.

On Thursday, Microsoft addressed the bug in the KB5072753 out-of-band hotpatch, which is now rolling out to all Windows 11 25H2 devices via Windows Update.

This is also a cumulative update that includes improvements and security fixes from the KB5068966 security update.

"You do not need to apply any previous updates before installing this update, as it supersedes all previous updates for affected versions," Microsoft added.

"If you have not yet deployed the November 2025 hotpatch update (KB5068966) on Windows 11, version 25H2 devices in your environment, we recommend you apply this OOB update (KB5072753) instead."

 

Microsoft: Out-of-band update fixes Windows 11 hotpatch install loop - Bleeping Computer​



Looks like this 'out of band' update has FINALLY managed to install on my Lenovo i3 5th Gen laptop - I started the update download at 03h46 this morning - it took up to 09h20 before the install completed & it did the first reboot - then ANOTHER reboot at around 09h50, and now the THIRD reboot at 10h10... - it's now got to 'Working on Updates 30% complete'... this may take a while longer... 💻🐌🐌🐌⏱️⏱️⏱️

UPDATE: It WAS eventually successfully installed at last... ;)

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Microsoft Confirms Windows 11 24H2 Update Broken Multiple Core Features - Cyber Security News

Microsoft has officially acknowledged a significant disruption affecting Windows 11 version 24H2 users, specifically after installing the cumulative update KB5062553 released in July 2025.

The issue primarily affects environments using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and devices undergoing their first user logon.

Reports indicate that essential shell components, including the Start Menu, Taskbar, and System Settings, are failing to initialize correctly, leaving users with a severely degraded or unusable desktop experience.

The disruption stems from the operating system’s inability to register specific dependency packages in time during the logon process.

This behavior is particularly acute in non-persistent OS installations where application packages must be provisioned fresh for each user session.
https://cybersecuritynews.com/windows-11-24h2-features-broken/
 
Looks like this 'out of band' update has FINALLY managed to install on my Lenovo i3 5th Gen laptop - I started the update download at 03h46 this morning - it took up to 09h20 before the install completed & it did the first reboot - then ANOTHER reboot at around 09h50, and now the THIRD reboot at 10h10... - it's now got to 'Working on Updates 30% complete'... this may take a while longer... 💻🐌🐌🐌⏱️⏱️⏱️

UPDATE: It WAS eventually successfully installed at last... ;)

View attachment 1865552

View attachment 1865553

Is this normal for Windows 11, having so many bugs and updates needed to fix them and updates that don't work and take hours to install.

I was on Windows 7 for ages and then moved to Windows 10 without many issues and am now on Linux Mint.

You Windows 11 fellas are in update hell it seems.
 
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