Last week, Microsoft rolled 0ut KB5043145 for Windows 11 Enterprise and Education, version 22H2 - which was supposed to be a neat little update offering various tweaks and fixes.
But optimism turned to despair as the update started crashing computers around the world, causing blue and even green screens of death, as well as reboot loops.
Although the damage wasn't anywhere near the chaos wreaked by the apocalyptic Crowdstrike BSOD meltdown, it certainly caused wailing and gnashing of teeth among the admins whose devices were suddenly broken.
Microsoft has now stepped in to fix the problem, issuing a "Known Issue Rollback"(KIR) which should make everything right again.
It wrote:"Microsoft has received some customer reports of devices restarting multiple times or becoming irresponsive with blue or green screens after trying to install the September 2024 non-security preview Windows update (KB5043145).
"According to the reports, some devices automatically open the Automatic Repair tool after repeated reboot attempts. This tool tries to diagnose and resolve common issues that might prevent your device from booting properly. In some cases, BitLocker recovery can also be triggered.
"This issue also causes USB and Bluetooth connections to fail in some devices. Hardware connected via USB and Bluetooth, such as keyboards, memory sticks, printers, and wireless mouses, no longer work after installing the update. In these cases, the USB Host Controller under the Device Manager displays a yellow exclamation mark."
READ MORE: September Patch Tuesday: Microsoft fixes "concerning" RCE that rolls back earlier mitigations
When the rollback is enacted, it may take up to 24 hours for the resolution to "propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices and business devices that are not managed by IT departments", Microsoft warned, before offering some truly timeless tech advice:
"Restarting your Windows device might help the resolution apply to your device faster," it wrote.
IT admins managing devices that have been hobbled by the update and resolve it by installing a group policy. More details here.
Microsoft added: "We are working to include the resolution in a future Windows update. Once the update with the resolution is released, organisations will not need to install and configure this Group Policy to address this issue."
