Microsoft Forced to Issue Emergency Out-of-Band Windows Update (windowscentral.com)
- Reference: 0180611272
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/18/1932246/microsoft-forced-to-issue-emergency-out-of-band-windows-update
- Source link: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/microsoft-issues-emergency-out-of-band-update-for-windows-11-to-address-major-bugs-that-broke-pc-shutdowns-and-sign-ins
> Microsoft's first update for Windows 11 in 2026 has already caused two major issues that saw users unable to fully shutdown their PCs or sign-in into a device when using Remote Desktop... Being unable to shut down your PC due to a recent OS update is a huge oversight on Microsoft's part, but this is the latest in a long list of updates over the last year to cause a major issue like this... Other issues that have cropped up in Windows 11 in the last year include a bug that caused Task Manager to fail to close when the user exited the application, causing system resources to lock up after a prolonged period of time if the user had opened and closed Task Manager multiple times in a session. Another update caused saw File Explorer flashbang users with a white screen when opening it in dark mode, which appeared in an update that was supposed to improve dark mode on Windows 11...
>
> For whatever reason, the Windows Insider Program doesn't appear to be working anymore, as severe bugs are somehow making it into shipping versions of the OS.
"The out of band updates, KB5077744 and KB5077797, are available now via Windows Update and is rolling out to everybody," they write. "Once installed, your PC should go back to being able to shut down successfully, and signing-in via Remote Desktop should work again."
Microsoft has also officially acknowledged a third bug which [3]crashes Outlook Classic when using POP accounts , according to the blog [4] Windows Latest , which adds that that bug has not yet been fixed.
They've also [5]identified other minor bugs , including "a black screen problem in Windows 11 KB5074109... either due to the update itself or some compatibility issues with GPU drivers."
> After you install the January 2026 Update, Windows triggers random black screens where the desktop freezes for a second or two, the display goes black, then everything comes back. I can't pinpoint any specific configuration, but I can confirm the black screen issue has been observed on a small subset of PCs with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs. After you install the January 2026 Update, Windows triggers random black screens where the desktop freezes for a second or two, the display goes black, then everything comes back.
[1] https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/microsoft-issues-emergency-out-of-band-update-for-windows-11-to-address-major-bugs-that-broke-pc-shutdowns-and-sign-ins
[2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/windows-message-center#cw
[3] https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/01/17/windows-11-kb5074109-issues-black-screen-freezes-outlook-pop-breaks-azure-virtual-desktop-localizedresourcename-desktop-ini/
[4] https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/01/18/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-january-2026-update-issues-releases-fix-for-at-least-problems/
[5] https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/01/17/windows-11-kb5074109-issues-black-screen-freezes-outlook-pop-breaks-azure-virtual-desktop-localizedresourcename-desktop-ini/
Outlook crashing with POP accounts (Score:5, Interesting)
How on earth do you introduce a bug in handling POP3 protocol? Surely that code was mature by the turn of the last century.
Re: (Score:3)
Probably asked Copilot to rewrite it in Rust.
Re: (Score:2)
Microsoft is famous for their mastery of the Art of Stupid Engineering. Apparently, Win11 user numbers are slowly dropping and Win10 user numbers are slowly increasing at this time.
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Hmm, I think Adam used POP3 to check his orders for Eve's apples on his Abacus.
Re: (Score:2)
> How on earth do you introduce a bug in handling POP3 protocol? Surely that code was mature by the turn of the last century.
It's a long story I will condense somewhat, but in the early 2010s I worked for a Fortune 500 company where we had a similar stupid "How did this happen?" problem. We had assigned an H1-B guy to write the code for a new feature on our department's main product. The manager guy in charge of our product stopped doing code reviews because they took time. So new guy wrote code that sort of worked in that the new feature did work, but it never freed up the memory it used after the user stopped using the fea
More reasons not that big of a deal (Score:2)
Most consumers should be on Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2 at this point. And to be fair, so should most enterprise customers. 24H2 is a dramatic shift in Windows 11 to the point that it should be your baseline for OS.
Out of the identified issues, the only bug that affects 24H2 or 25H2 is the Remote Desktop sign in failure bug, which would impact enterprises but shouldn't impact most consumers of the OS. So this out of band update practically doesn't apply to most gamers or home users of Windows. (Unless your comp
Totally Fucked My GF's Computer (Score:2)
I've spent the weekend backing up and restoring my gf's computer after installing this update. Her computer started freezing about 2-3 minutes after booting after the update.
Re: (Score:1)
You say your GF is a 'they'. That sure explains a lot.
Meanwhile (Score:3)
Gnome has open 16 bugs that lead to a crash in Nautilus, and they are too busy calling X11 users fascists to fix their Wayland bugs. Then Firefox is down to 1.99% market share because they chose to waste donators money on AI slop. It just goes to show that open source is just as bad when it comes to mismanagement, and I am basically stuck with no good operating system or browser.
Re: (Score:2)
> they are too busy calling X11 users fascists to fix their Wayland bugs.
If the reality weren't so incredibly sad, this would be a hilarious comment.
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But is it true? I haven't used Gnome since Gnome2, and haven't followed it's development, so I really don't know. (Considering what they did with Gnome3 I find it believable.)
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It's not even a parody, they actually did exactly this. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu5guSWznnA
Re: (Score:2)
> But is it true?
It is. When you voice any preference for X11 you're a "fascist maggot." That's the official term, anyhow. There is a Xorg fork called Xlibre. It exists mostly because there are X11 fans that want to continue and improve X11, but also because Xorg, Gnome and many other projects (OpenSUSE, Fedora, Alpine... the list is long,) have descended into full-on purity spiral ban-hammer tyranny, removing en-masse (banned from forums, commit privileges, leadership positions, etc.) anyone not sufficiently committed
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the main reason xorg was abandon is because its code base is a trash fire. so wayland dedicated it was just time to start from scratch. its main issue is there devs are dirt slow at adding anything.
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>> they are too busy calling X11 users fascists to fix their Wayland bugs.
> If the reality weren't so incredibly sad, this would be a hilarious comment.
Sometimes, Slashdot could really use a "sad, but true" moderator state...
Re: Meanwhile (Score:2)
> and I am basically stuck with no good operating system
None of what you wrote concerns the operating system.
Re: (Score:3)
>> and I am basically stuck with no good operating system
> None of what you wrote concerns the operating system.
You're right from a traditional PC operating system definition POV, but i get what he's saying in that the effective level of abstraction that people care about in their daily lives, even nerds, has moved up. Like i want my phone, email, text messages, online banking, router, wifi, work VPN, various cloud "stuff", etc to work and having anything in the chain NOT work is a much bigger deal today than it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago because so much of services has moved on-line. Now it's much
Re: Meanwhile (Score:2)
I can't relate to the story you mention (or can't remember it happening). It sounds really annoying. To GP's point, if you don't like Gnome (and I can relate to that), just use a different DE. It's really easy and they're basically all better.
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Yes, so? Gnome is an _application_ and not part of the OS. I, for example, run fvwm2 and do not even have Gnome installed.
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> It just goes to show that open source is just as bad
This blanket statement is off the mark. Open source isn't one thing; there is a lot of good open source work that values quality and isn't being actively destroyed by political activists LARPing as hero developers.
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because gnome is the only option on linux oh wait
Not spotted in testing? (Score:2)
I was under the impression MS does not test Windows releases anymore. The large number of issues would support that assumption.
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the mean co pilot didn't see it. because they clearly dont use humans anymore on that os.
They need to AI harder. (Score:1)
Everything will be better when humans are out of the loop.
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest... (Score:2)
... maybe they shouldn't be having AI do coding? Or QA?
Let AI write code, they said. (Score:2)
It'll be fine, they said.
Re: (Score:3)
a. The latest OS updates for Windows 11 introduces two major bugs that caused issues with shutting down your PC or signing into your PC using Remote Desktop.
b. Other issues that have cropped up in Windows 11 in the last year include a bug that caused Task Manager to fail to close when the user exited the application, causing system resources to lock up after a prolonged period of time if the user had opened and closed Task Manager multiple times in a session.
c. There was also an update that somehow br
Re:Not That Big Of A Deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe there was a bug they aren't telling us about, like something that allowed people to bypass DRM when consuming some form of media. THAT will get Microsoft's actual clients really angry and demand an immediate resolution.
Something that puts us all at risk of being victimized by criminals, on the other hand, can be buried in the priority queue for months or years.
I imagine that Microsoft's dev team is under the same irrational deadline pressure that all other dev teams face. Business owners perpetually insist that development is taking to long and that we are doomed if this doesn't get out the door in time. It's even worse now that they think "there, you have AI, so where's my 10x productivity gain?" The real irony being that even if they did get a bonafide 10x productivity gain (by any means), it would feel to them like things slowed down a little bit, because their sense of how fast things are going is mostly a function of how much they want to accomplish, and that goal always expands to exceed their productive capacity.
So, everything is rushed out and buggy, even (and especially) from a company like Microsoft. Enough resources to buy multiple sovereign nations, and still unable to produce reliable software.
Re:Not That Big Of A Deal (Score:5, Insightful)
The bugs may not be that much of a big deal (given MS did an emergency patch, they probably were a big deal at least for some customers). But the type of process that allows crap like this in production is a big deal and should have most people migrate away from Microsoft trash.