Windows 11 update causes reboot loops, Bluetooth and USB device failures

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The new Windows 11 update caused serious problems for some users and caused computers to freeze, experience blue or green screens, or restart loops where computers repeatedly tried to restart.

The September 26 KB5043145 update also caused some USB or Bluetooth devices – including keyboards, mice, headphones, microphones, memory cards, printers, and other accessories – to suddenly stop working with the connected computer.

“After installing this update, something got corrupted in the system files and I had to reinstall Windows,” one user explained in a Tuesday post about the problem. “It was BSODing every 15 minutes.”

Others found that the update caused problems with Wi-Fi or software such as VirtualBox and Linux features such as WSL2. In particular, many Windows 11 users with Asus laptops have reported problems with this update.

If you encounter any of these problems, Microsoft says the Automatic Repair tool may appear when your computer is stuck in a restart loop and can be used to fix the problem. According to the support page, Bitlocker recovery can also be used in some cases.

Microsoft has also made improvements through the Known Issue Rollback Service so that these issues can be resolved automatically. However, if your computer still does not work, Microsoft recommends that you try restarting your computer to run the automatic repair.

However, Microsoft does not yet have a patch for Windows 11 computers managed by IT. The tech giant says IT administrators will have to put in some work to install and configure a specific “group policy” until Microsoft rolls out the patch for work computers and the patch more broadly in a future update.

Windows 11 users noticed similar issues in an update earlier this year. The KB5039302 update, released in June, also caused some PCs to get stuck in reboot loops. This bug was less likely to affect Windows 11 Home users, but it was still a serious enough problem that Microsoft pulled the update.