September Windows 11 update riddled with issues. Here’s what you can do

Last week, Microsoft released the KB5043076 update for Windows 11 on Patch Tuesday (the second Tuesday of every month). This update is a mandatory security update that’s being delivered to all users.

Overall, it’s a beneficial update for many users, one that brings several improvements and even a performance boost in some cases. But for some other unfortunate users, the update has brought issues and headaches, including serious problems like crashes.

Better performance for AMD CPUs

The update finally rolls out AMD’s Branch Prediction Optimizations to all users, which was previously introduced as part of the optional KB5041587 update.

This brings a performance increase of up to 11 percent for newer AMD Ryzen processors in the 9000 series, along with lesser performance boosts to some older AMD CPUs. For gamers, this improvement alone makes the update worthwhile.

Known problems with the update

The September update of Windows 11 is, unfortunately, causing serious problems for some users. Some are unable to install it at all, while others are dealing with crashing systems after installation.

Others report frequent crashes of File Explorer when it’s started via the taskbar. This issue has apparently been fixed by Microsoft, but it’s currently only available to Windows Insiders. All users will eventually get the fix, but we aren’t sure when that’ll happen.

Other known problems reported by Windows Latest include:

• Phishing protection in Windows Security is turned off after restarting or shutting down the PC.
• Problems with the execution of Windows.UI.Xaml.dll, which leads to problems with the use of consent.exe and SystemSettings.exe.
• The “Run as administrator” option doesn’t work properly on Windows Enterprise systems and is blocked.
• The search function takes a long time to load queries.
• Internet problems, even with a stable connection to the router.
• Problems with loading apps.
• Prevention of restarts or shutdowns of the device.

What you can do if you’re affected

Because update KB5043076 is a mandatory security patch that was deployed as part of September’s Patch Tuesday, it’s automatically installed on all supported Windows 11 systems.

However, if you’re running into problems after installation, you can manually remove the patch with these steps:

1. Open Settings > Windows Update > Update History.
2. Scroll down to the bottom and click Uninstall updates.
3. Locate update KB5043076 and click Uninstall.
4. Restart your system when you’re prompted to do so.
5. Go back to Settings > Windows Update and click on Pause for 1 week so the patch remains uninstalled.

Microsoft has not yet commented on most of these problems with the patch. As soon as fixes are rolled out, you can always reactivate automatic updates. If you have problems shutting down your PC, you may need to force shutdown and use a system restore point as a temporarily fix.

Further reading: How to roll back a problematic Windows update