Microsoft says Windows 11 updates could break the Taskbar, Start Menu, Explorer and more on Enterprise PCs
Microsoft has published a support document that says that Windows 11 updates might cause several system apps to stop working. These issues seem to affect enterprise PCs.
This is what the support page says,
"After provisioning a PC with a Windows 11, version 24H2 or a Windows 11, version 25H2 monthly cumulative update released on or after July 2025 (such as KB5062553 or KB5065789), XAML-dependent modern apps such as Explorer, the Start menu, SystemSettings, Taskbar and Windows Search might experience difficulties"
It mentions some scenarios where Explorer may crash on start, Windows may log on to a black screen. The Taskbar may fail to appear/render/display on the desktop. The Start Menu may fail to open, and display a critical error message. ShellHost.exe could crash. XAML-dependent apps like Consent.exe, which is used for the User Account Control UI, may crash or fail to start. The System Settings page, i.e. Start>Settings>System may fail to open. Apps may crash when initializing XAML views.
Yesterday, Martin wrote about a bug in File Explorer's dark mode that could result in a flash bang. Seriously, what's left to break at this point?
Microsoft says these issues are very unlikely to occur on personal computers, and that they affect a "limited number of enterprise or managed environments". It explained that the affected apps have a dependency on XAML packages, and that these are not registering in time after installing Windows updates.
While it is yet to resolve the problem, the company is recommending some workarounds.
IT administrators managing enterprise or virtualized environments can use the following commands in PowerShell to register the missing packages in the user session, and restart SiHost to allow Immersive Shell and related components to reflect the changes.
Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode
Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode
Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode
Microsoft is suggesting users on non-persistent environments to use a logon script, and run it from a batch file before Explorer starts.
@echo off
REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"
REM Register Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"
REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"
All these issues on Enterprise PCs could make work life miserable. How do so many issues fly under the radar before they are shipped? What exactly is the point of the Windows Insider Program, if testers don't check for serious errors? And why haven't these issues been fixed for months?
As Windows Central's Zac Bowden rightly says, Microsoft has become sloppy when it comes to Windows 11 updates.
Microsoft is SNAFU.
Apparently the home beta testers are not doing a good job.
I guess those AI developers are really paying off dividends.
The laughable part is that this is the way they treat their enterprise customers then why should businesses even run their software at all if its completely unreliable. They (Microsoft) do more to foster a seed doubt and contempt for updates which supposedly puts your systems at risk if you are not undertaking said updates but this is the result of taking said updates.
Microsoft really is in the gutter these days.
It seems like AI codes, one person might review code with the help of AI and then ultimately management just approve it blindly.
Seems Microsoft is literally not testing anything inhouse before releasing updates to all users.
I’ve seen this at work with the latest updates. The person leading the Windows team should be fired because they have done a poor job with everything this year.
Fake news from Microsoft:
‘These issues seem to affect enterprise PCs.’
This is fake news. This implies that only companies are affected but the truth is that you don’t need to be part of Active Directory to be affected by this bug.
The issue cans affect basically any Enterprise edition of Windows such as Enterprise or Enterprise LTSC.
Mind you, many private individuals actually use a pirated version of Windows Enterprise LTSC to avoid being harassed with botched Windows updates.
That literally means consumers are affected as much as companies.
Not to mention, consumer computers aren’t as fast as company computers debloated & managed by knowledgeable IT admins.
So the bug is even more likely to occur for consumers than for the companies.
Also, remember when Microsoft said that it wanted to phase out legacy .NET technologies and XAML?
I guess neglecting these ‘legacy technologies’ was a bad idea.
Quote “While it is yet to resolve the problem, the company is recommending some workarounds.”
So they’re expecting ordinary punters to fix their bodge jobs?
This is beyond a joke
I simply delay feature updates by 365 days and security updates by at least 30 days and sometimes more if there were any reported problems with the update. All of Microsoft’s beta testers (read: users) usually have worked through these kind of issues by that point. I can’t even imagine why anyone might be anxious to download updates when they first appear as that is just asking for trouble.
Microsoft has lost its way. There are way to many updates that break things. What happened to in house testing? They went to “preview” updates that most people opted to not install.