Windows 11 Update Breaks Recovery Environment, Making USB Keyboards and Mice Unusable (tomshardware.com)
- Reference: 0179833122
- News link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/10/20/0247259/windows-11-update-breaks-recovery-environment-making-usb-keyboards-and-mice-unusable
- Source link: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11s-october-update-just-broke-the-windows-recovery-environment-usb-keyboards-and-mice-unusable-in-windows-re-after-latest-bug-hits
"It's a crucial piece of software that has now, unfortunately, been rendered useless (for many) as part of the latest Windows update."
> A new bug discovered in [2]Windows 11's October build, KB5066835 , makes it so that your USB keyboard and mouse stop working entirely, so you cannot interact with the recovery UI at all.
>
> This problem has already been [3]recognized and highlighted by Microsoft , who clarified that a fix is on its way to address this issue. Any plugged-in peripherals will continue to work just fine inside the actual operating system, but as soon as you go into Windows RE, your USB keyboard and mouse will become unresponsive. It's important to note that if your PC fails to start-up for any reason, it defaults to the recovery environment to, you know, recover and diagnose any issues that might've been preventing it from booting normally.
>
> Note that those hanging onto old PS/2-connector equipped keyboards and mice seem to be unaffected by this latest Windows software gaffe.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11s-october-update-just-broke-the-windows-recovery-environment-usb-keyboards-and-mice-unusable-in-windows-re-after-latest-bug-hits
[2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/october-14-2025-kb5066835-os-builds-26200-6899-and-26100-6899-1db237d8-9f3b-4218-9515-3e0a32729685
[3] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-25H2
Is there such a thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder, are there any computers that both have a PS/2 port and also can run Windows 11?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure if it is still true but for some time, IIRC, laptops used a PS/2 interface for the touchpad.
Re: (Score:2)
I would assume my ASRock H510M-HDV/M.2 Intel LGA 1200 microATX motherboard can if it runs W10. I still use my OmniCube KVM from Y2K!
Re: (Score:1)
Loads do, including mine.
Even bang up to date motherboards come with them, look up:
Gigabyte B860M EAGLE V2 (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard
as an example.
The PS/2 user. (Score:2)
> Loads do, including mine.
> Even bang up to date motherboards come with them, look up:
> Gigabyte B860M EAGLE V2 (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard
> as an example.
I’d call this a rather unique non-solution really.
Those that have a PS/2 port in 2025 and don’t have a clue as to what the hell it is, have never used a recovery console and never will.
Those that have a PS/2 port in 2025 because they know what the hell it is, are running Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
>>> Those that have a PS/2 port in 2025 and don’t have a clue as to what the hell it is, have never used a recovery console and never will.
>>> Those that have a PS/2 port in 2025 because they know what the hell it is, are running Linux.
>> those that post retarded shit like this is the reason why linux is going nowhere,,,, quick - say something stupid about systemd, or having "choice" in 38 sound daemons......
We’re here still bitching about shitty technical support for the planets most ubiquitous comm port in the year 2025, and you’re still wondering why Linux hasn’t taken off?
No Shit is why it has gone nowhere. We can’t even get USB right after 30 fucking years.
Re: (Score:2)
> I wonder, are there any computers that both have a PS/2 port and also can run Windows 11?
As I see it on the internet there's people that are gamers that have at least the perception on the advantage of PS/2 for the lower latency. To cater to this market people making computers for gamers will put PS/2 ports on them. Whether there's any reality in the advantage of PS/2 over USB for gaming is kind of debatable.
Having dealt with computing environments where security is an issue the loss of PS/2 creates problems. One issue is that there may be a requirement that there be no interface available t
Re: (Score:3)
The Dell Optiplex 7090 SFF sitting next to me ready for my brother to pick up to replace his Windows 10 machine is both running Windows 11 and has PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports.
ps/2 (Score:2)
Weren't gamers using it because of the lower latency? Seems like I read something by a gamer that said it was better than 1000hz USB. In any case, iirc you need 2 ports, one for the mouse and one for the keyboard. And they're specific, can't plug the keyboard into the mouse port etc.
Comment Subject: (Score:1)
> Note that those hanging onto old PS/2-connector equipped keyboards and mice seem to be unaffected by this latest Windows software gaffe.
The whole reason I keep a ps2 kb around, for rough environments that have no USB drivers.
> IT personnel will also be particularly affected by the Windows RE bug since a lot of sensitive system repairs are tied to that toolkit
*who didn't keep one around
(okay so the overlap of W11 motherboards and ps2 ports is virtually nonexistent, i'm still gonna pretend i can
Well that is fairly normal (Score:2)
You need to enable PS/2 emulation in your BIOS settings. USB support is spotty at best on many systems. It's not uncommon for it to not work on boot loaders. Also when Windows came out, USB didn't even exist.
Re: Well that is fairly normal (Score:3)
Windows has supported USB in the loader since Vista. It was necessary for USB boot, which was first added - partially - in XP. Windows PE (which underlies RE) has supported USB peripherals from its inception. Just no PnP initially.
Re: (Score:1)
WinRE is not a bootloader. It has had perfectly functional USB support since the days of Vista. Also what is PS/2? Is this something boomers used to confuse for a playstation? (I'm joking, but only kinda, computers haven't shipped with PS/2 for a long time, and the option for PS/2 emulation no longer exists in modern BIOSes meaning you can't even use PS/2 > USB adapters to get old keyboards functional).
But seriously which era is your computer from? You're talking about something I've not seen for over 15
Re: (Score:2)
I should add to this that one of WinRE's primary use cases is to reinstall Windows from installation media, i.e. USB. A version of this pre-dates Visa and USB support has actually been part of it from Windows XP days. But WinRE as an installed system component only came about with Windows 10.
When normal, shouldn’t be. (Score:2)
> USB support is spotty at best on many systems. It's not uncommon for it to not work on boot loaders.
USB support is spotty? After this many decades, fucking why again? Unless your next design release has zero physical ports, the hell are you even doing in electronics manufacturing? As if consumer goods are using some other physical comm bus? We act like shitty USB support is acceptable because serial ports are still all the rage, and FireWire went TikTok viral just in time for Christmas.
> Also when Windows came out, USB didn't even exist.
I remember 1997 too. Win95 running on new computers with these funny slotted ports no one knew how to use yet. Incl
Pajeetware (Score:2, Insightful)
You can feel the difference between Microsoft products made by competent US-teams, like VSCode, and the outsourced Indian slop, like Windows 11 and especially Explorer.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
> You can feel the difference between Microsoft products made by competent US-teams, like VSCode, and the outsourced Indian slop, like Windows 11 and especially Explorer.
This comment is a textbook example of American exceptionalism divorced from reality. VS Code isn't made by 'competent US-teams' and it never has been. The core development has been led by teams in Zürich, Switzerland and Seattle, with the Zürich team under Erich Gamma driving the project since its inception. The Monaco editor that powers VS Code was developed in Europe, not the United States. The suggestion that US engineering teams are inherently superior to those working elsewhere is not only f
missing tests? (Score:2)
The answer to software quality is in my experience automatic testing. It is really a surprise that MS doesn't have a more fine grained testing system catching such a bug. Microsoft can have 1000s of PCs running builds and testing stuff, and even many more virtual machines testing a lot more. You can't test everything, and especially combination of setup choices and hardware, so it is understandable that some combination of PC/BIOS might turn up buggy, but this was a more general bug, wasn't it?
Is there any intermediate fix?And other questions. (Score:3)
I got hit by this ;-/ And crucial information is missing.
Can the faulty KB5066835 be un-installed?
Does that fix the problem?
What part of KB5066835 [1]description [microsoft.com] talks about touching boot process?
I dual boot with the OS selection being done at UEFI level - I have to press a key at boot time to get UEFI boot selection dialog. I don't get the selection dialog if I do normal reboot in Windows, only if I do Shift+Reboot - which was, at some point, announced as a way to "avoid fast boot". Nowadays it seems to be described as a way to enter Windows Recovery Environment. How/why does fast boot skip UEFI boot selection dialog? Would disabling fast boot in windows solve the issue for me? I.e. would I get UEFI boot selection dialog but skip entering the Windows Recovery Environment screen?
[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/october-14-2025-kb5066835-os-builds-26200-6899-and-26100-6899-1db237d8-9f3b-4218-9515-3e0a32729685
Re: (Score:2)
A few things:
a) the description mentions Hello (specifically mentioning USB) and Cryptography. Both touch on WinRE - it's not just a boot process, it's a micro version of Windows. My guess is they screwed something up there.
b) the Shift+Reboot has nothing to do with UEFI. It has to do with Windows telling UEFI to follow a specific boot process. While at one point Shift+Reboot was an emergency restart that specifically forced a full UEFI cold boot, Microsoft changed Window's behaviour to do a warm boot direc
Can they fix laptop keyboards + fast boot next? (Score:2)
I upgraded my Carbon X1 to Windows 11 recently and after that my keyboard does not work on normal boot up from a shutdown state. If I restart it to get a full cold boot then it works fine. I've seen a [1]couple [reddit.com] more [2]posts [reddit.com] on this issue and the only solution is to disable Fast Boot so every boot is a full reload. Saw some mention this started with a 2024 feature update, so it's been an entire year now with no fix.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/1jaclf1/keyboard_only_working_after_restart/
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/1kq8scg/x1_carbon_6th_gen_keyboard_doesnt_work_after/
To destroy the West: China & Russia ... (Score:2)
need do nothing more. They appear to have outsourced the problem to Microsoft.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. And things are proceeding nicely according to schedule.
How utterly incompetent can MS get? (Score:2)
Apparently, this was not tested. And this is a "you are fucked" level bug. Well, I guess reinstalling Windows may (or may not) fix this. Welcome to amateur-hour.
At the same time, Linux recovery (for which you have multiple options) continues to work just fine.p
Sex with Microsoft (Score:2)
Microsoft always wants to be on the bottom, they only know how to fuck up.