https://www.techpowerup.com/342032/windows-11-25h2-october-update-bug-renders-recovery-environment-unusable [_364050ef] [ ] [ ] * Home * Reviews * Forums * Downloads * Case Mod Gallery * Databases [ ] + Databases... Back + VGA Bios Collection + GPU Database + CPU Database + SSD Database + Review Database + Upcoming Hardware * Our Software [ ] + Our Software... Back + GPU-Z + RealTemp + NVCleanstall + TPUCapture + MemTest64 * More [ ] + More... Back + Articles + Old Stuff + Computer Trivia + TPU Live + RAM Latency Calculator * Contact Us * Sunday, October 19th 2025 [microsof] Windows 11 25H2 October Update Bug Renders Recovery Environment Unusable by AleksandarK Today, 08:12 Discuss (74 Comments) It seems like Microsoft has encountered a significant issue with the latest Windows 11 25H2 October update, KB5066835. The company confirmed that this update disrupts mouse and keyboard functionality within the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), making them unresponsive and unusable. As a result, the WinRE feature is completely inoperative. WinRE is a built-in troubleshooting toolkit included with Windows. It's intended to assist users when their computer encounters startup problems or system issues. WinRE activates automatically when Windows crashes or fails to boot properly, but users can also access it manually to utilize various repair tools. However, with the current problem affecting keyboard and mouse input, WinRE is essentially ineffective. Microsoft stated that "the USB keyboard and mouse continue to work normally within the Windows operating system," and assured users that they are "working to release a solution to resolve this issue in the coming days. More information will be provided when it is available." This is yet another incident related to the recent Windows 11 updates, which have previously caused localhost issues. The list of Windows 11 problems continues to grow as the latest updates are released. Microsoft maintains a Windows 11 version 25H2 known issues and notifications website that provides status updates on the latest problems, including this one. [eVE26AT7I8nb5Xs0_thm] [JFGDRMELQOYGydHH_thm] Early last week, Microsoft accidentally broke the Windows Media Creation Tool (MCT) just a day ahead of Windows 10's end-of-life. Additionally, the company began requiring Online Accounts for Windows 11 installations, making them increasingly difficult to bypass. Every previously reported issue has been addressed or resolved, except for the broken localhost functionality and now this WinRE problem. Without keyboard and mouse input, users are unable to initiate any recovery processes to resolve OS issues. Until Microsoft releases a patch, we must wait and hope that the OS remains stable without needing any intervention. Sources: Microsoft, via Windows Latest Related News * Tags: * 25H2 * Microsoft * tools * Update * Windows * Windows 11 * Aug 18th 2025 Microsoft Windows 11 24H2 Update May Cause SSD Failures (271) * Oct 1st 2025 Microsoft Releases Windows 11 25H2... With Zero New Features? (101) * Aug 19th 2025 Phison Responds to Windows 11 24H2 Update Crashing SSDs (97) * Oct 7th 2025 Microsoft Blocks Online Account Bypass on Windows 11 (133) * Dec 10th 2024 Microsoft Loosens Windows 11 Install Requirements, TPM 2.0 Not Needed Anymore (85) * Oct 17th 2025 Microsoft Breaks Localhost with Windows 11 October Update, Users Forced to Revert (99) * May 6th 2025 Microsoft Forces Automatic Windows 11 24H2 Update on Pro and Home PCs (121) * Jun 30th 2025 Windows 12 Delayed as Microsoft Prepares Windows 11 25H2 Update (98) * Sep 1st 2025 Windows 11 25H2 Preview Arrives as Lightweight Enablement Package (28) * Oct 14th 2025 End of an Era: Windows 10 Officially Reaches End of Life (92) Add your own comment 74 Comments on Windows 11 25H2 October Update Bug Renders Recovery Environment Unusable 1 to 25 of 74Go to Page123PreviousNext #1 Event Horizon Don't worry folks, AI will fix everything. /s Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:18 Reply #2 ymdhis Windows 11 is a bad comedy at this point, and they want us to upgrade to this shit? Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:20 Reply #3 _roman_ How comes someone needs a recovery environment in the first place? How comes i read only ~ 1/25th of the known windows bugs i read regularly elsewhere? Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:32 Reply #4 THUMPer0 _roman_How comes someone needs a recovery environment in the first place? Because one of their other updates borked the OS. haha Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:34 Reply #5 Konomi Well, at least there's no bug preventing progress in the installation media (yet). Though they should add one so more people find this thing called Linux and migrate. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:37 Reply #6 dtoxic I will never understand why people rush to install a unfinished OS and deal with all the problems. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:44 Reply #7 wNotyarD FFS Microsoft Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:57 Reply #8 Darmok N Jalad dtoxicI will never understand why people rush to install an unfinished OS and deal with all the problems. With the way WU is configured by default, the OS updates itself automatically when the updates are released. Yes, you can defer them, but I bet many users have never configured it that way. They get to be the real "Windows Insiders" for MS. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 8:58 Reply #9 Chaitanya At this point what the point of this spyware? Just look at comment sections for MS and Window's social media handles to just to get a feel of feedback that is being posted by consumers, enterprizes are also not happy with direction Windows is taking. Some of my clients which are financial institutions are looking to move to Red Hat for their front end PCs as well at this point. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 9:02 Reply #10 theouto 5 days since Win10 EOL arrived and we've already seen one too many very impactful bugs. Fun times :) Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 9:07 Reply #11 Super XP Can anybody explain why Windows 11 is so BROKEN? So Unstable? So prone to BSOD? What the heck is Microsoft doing? Even Windows 10 was not that bad when it first came out. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 9:20 Reply #12 FR3D1 Event HorizonDon't worry folks, AI will fix everything. /s Thanks. That's exactly my kind of humor! The list of Windows 11 problems continues to grow as the latest updates are released. Three cheers for Satya Nadella and K.I. You don't even get to see as much garbage as these two generate on linear TV. With a friendly smile, Fred. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 9:27 Reply #13 TheinsanegamerN Super XPCan anybody explain why Windows 11 is so BROKEN? So Unstable? So prone to BSOD? What the heck is Microsoft doing? Even Windows 10 was not that bad when it first came out. Because it isnt? For most people its....fine. At work its just fine, no worse then 10 or 7 were. My 11 box at home is....just fine. It doesnt BSOD, it isnt unstable. It isnt broken. It just works. My family's computers are just fine. They just work. This update breaks the recovery menu.....how often do you use it? I use it maybe once a year at most, among our thousands of PCs. Most people dont even know it exists, that's how rare it is to see it boot to the recovery menu these days. _roman_How comes someone needs a recovery environment in the first place? In case seomthing goes wrong? Duh. MacOS, Android, iOS, Windows, all have recovery menus. The only one that doesnt mandate one is Linux. You're just screwed if something breaks there. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 9:34 Reply #14 lambda Another one for the Windows 11 General Discussion thread :laugh: Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 9:47 Reply #15 Exilarch No point in resisting any longer. Just go with Linux. Find a distro that suits you. Don't be lazy. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:05 Reply #16 Tomorrow The current workaround without uninstalling the update would be to replace WinRE.wim with an older one from an earlier ISO. Instructions are in the source link. Personally i find it unacceptable that a recovery environment becomes unusable. This is an integral past of the OS that needs to work no matter what. Breaking that is like breaking the entire OS itself. Other issues like localhost etc only affect limited number of users, but a nonfunctional RE affects everyone. TheinsanegamerNThis update breaks the recovery menu.....how often do you use it? I use it maybe once a year at most, among our thousands of PCs. Most people dont even know it exists, that's how rare it is to see it boot to the recovery menu these days. Irrelevant. I could ask the same about airbags in cars. Same analogy. It's better to have it and not use it, as opposed to need it an not have it. It's a safety net in case something goes wrong. Take that away and it's like driving a car with nonfunctional airbags - everything appears fine until you crash. Then, suddenly it's not fine anymore. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:11 Reply #17 ymdhis Super XPCan anybody explain why Windows 11 is so BROKEN? So Unstable? So prone to BSOD? What the heck is Microsoft doing? Even Windows 10 was not that bad when it first came out. Because Satya Nadella started cost cutting by firing all the Q&A unit and all the experienced developers and replaced them with contractors who work there for 1-3 years and then get rotated. The programmers don't know how Windows works because they've only just started there, and have neither the time or incentive to learn how Windows works because they'll be out of there by the time they do. That's assuming the programmers have basic programmer skills to begin with and they aren't just a project leads fathers brothers cousins nephews former roommate. And since there's no testing department, any update can break anything. Meanwhile Microsoft is making record income from Azure Cloud/ Office365, so the only shit they give about Windows is how to mine more personal data out of it by forcing Microsoft accounts the same way Android and iOS requires Google/Apple IDs. TheinsanegamerNThis update breaks the recovery menu.....how often do you use it? I use it maybe once a year at most, among our thousands of PCs. Most people dont even know it exists, that's how rare it is to see it boot to the recovery menu these days. The recovery menu is like a condom, you don't always need it, but when you do, you won't get any action if you don't have one. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:20 Reply #18 Shihab _roman_How comes someone needs a recovery environment in the first place? I had to use it last week. Well, tried to use it. It failed to do anything, so I just did a manual copy of the data with a live disk and reinstalled the OS. At least they haven't broken that yet (if you disregard the atrocious and definitely illegal set-up experience). Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:25 Reply #19 FR3D1 ExilarchDon't be lazy. The reasons for not switching to Linux are certainly different. First of all, I could use my ASUS Xonar AE, but I couldn't configure it as I wanted to, because the software for it is only available for Windows. Next, I would have to do without Outlook, Forza Motorsport, and other services and software. So what are the advantages of Linux now? Let's be honest: nothing! And please don't claim afterwards that the penguin is free of bugs. That would be wishful thinking and far from reality. With a friendly smile, Fred. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:26 Reply #20 GeoffreyA Bravo, Microsoft. Show the world what "software engineering" is. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:33 Reply #21 Tomorrow FR3D1The reasons for not switching to Linux are certainly different. First of all, I could use my ASUS Xonar AE, but I couldn't configure it as I wanted to, because the software for it is only available for Windows. Then demand more from manufactures. Don't buy from those who refuse to support it. FR3D1Next, I would have to do without Outlook, Forza Motorsport, and other services and software. That's your first mistake. You have tied yourself to an MS ecosystem. The best way to smoothly transition to Linux is to start using programs and services that are OS agnostic or have both Windows and Linux support. That way it's much easier to eventually, make the switch. There is little reason to use desktop outlook these days. Most things can be done in a browser. As for Forza: www.protondb.com/search?q= Forza FR3D1So what are the advantages of Linux now? Let's be honest: nothing! That is completely untrue. If that were the the case most of the world would not be using Linux in some way from servers, smartphones to routers etc. This isn't a Windows vs Linux topic so i wont go into advantages here. Anyone who knows how to post in a forum is smart enough to search for this info themselves. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:40 Reply #22 chrcoluk These RE updates I think are primarily bitlocker related, I dont use bitlocker and I dont use RE either, so moving forward I wont be using RE partitions at all, as the update process is too flaky with them now. Super XPCan anybody explain why Windows 11 is so BROKEN? So Unstable? So prone to BSOD? What the heck is Microsoft doing? Even Windows 10 was not that bad when it first came out. 10 was a mess when it was new which is why it took me over 5 years to migrate, I think the issue here is Microsoft wanted to be experimental again, tinkering with UI and such, so released 11, but now we back to a unpolished beta quality product. Unlike 10 though this wont be a 10 year life, so if 11 ever does get to the point of where 10 is now, it probably will be in its final days. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:43 Reply #23 cvaldes dtoxicI will never understand why people rush to install a unfinished OS and deal with all the problems. Microsoft also broke it on year-old 24H2. www.windowslatest.com/2025/10/18/ microsoft-confirms-windows-11-october-2025-update-breaks-winre-recovery-input / 25H2 is really just 24H2 underneath the hood, Microsoft has admitted it in one of their blogs. As we all know Microsoft is perfectly capable in breaking a stable and mature operating system because they don't give a rat's arse about software QA. TomorrowThat's your first mistake. You have tied yourself to an MS ecosystem. The best way to smoothly transition to Linux is to start using programs and services that are OS agnostic or have both Windows and Linux support. That way it's much easier to eventually, make the switch. There is little reason to use desktop outlook these days. Most things can be done in a browser. As for Forza: www.protondb.com/ search?q=Forza You can game on Linux on a subset of titles. Linux is not useful for many multi-player titles because those games use kernel-level anticheat tools. Your first mistake is assuming this person's casual short list of usage cases are their ONLY tasks. That makes zero sense. It's easy to cherry pick through someone's list and say "Linux has support for this". It's naive to assume that Forza is this person's only game they play. Linux will remain a niche OS for the general public. There's more chance of Linux adoption in enterprise/education/public sector where there's a more defined set of usage cases and the IT staff determine that Linux is a viable solution based on what their users need to accomplish on the job. Note that despite this, the Munich City Government failed in their quixotic attempt to replace Windows with Linux. It's also important to point out that standalone mail clients have fewer security vulnerabilities because they AREN'T web browsers. Web browsers are convenient because you aren't forced to install a separate program and programmers like them because they are less platform dependent (shared common code). From a security standpoint, your web browser is the most dangerous piece of software on your computer, smartphone, smart TV, etc. It's no surprise that some people have derisively referred to web browsers as "poison" for over three decades. Yes, you can replace desktop mail with a web browser but with more security risks. There is nothing new about this, webmail's security vulnerabilities were recognized when these services gained more popularity in the late Nineties (pre-Microsoft HoTMaiL, WebTV, Yahoo Mail, etc.). It is irresponsible recommending web mail over a standalone mail client. And as web security issues become increasingly more serious, in the future it will be even more important to distance certain tasks from web browsers. Many financial institutions often strongly advise users to quit their web browsers after logging out of the site; that's not necessary for standalone smartphone apps. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:47 Reply #24 AleXXX666 But WHY I need this RE when my win works:rolleyes: Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 10:56 Reply #25 Hecate91 Those defending Windows for bugs like this is just sad at this point, you should be demanding better from Microsoft. But M$ only cares about AI now so I have no hope for them to make a competent OS. To think M$ got off with e-wasting millions upon millions of PC's for this garbage, I don't remember Windows 10 at launch being this bad, and it was rather bad for those who switched over from Windows 7 early. Posted on Oct 19th 2025, 11:05 Reply 1 to 25 of 74Go to Page123 PreviousNext Add your own comment Oct 19th, 2025 18:01 CDT change timezone [ ] [] Sign in / Register Latest GPU Drivers * NVIDIA GeForce 581.57 WHQL * AMD Radeon 25.10.1 Beta * Intel Arc & iGPU 101.8136 Beta [_c5832d53] New Forum Posts * 17:37 by VuurVOS XFX RX590 GME Flashing (4) * 17:37 by Youseethis Rx5700 wont give display at first pcie slot (2) * 17:30 by lambda Future upgrade to AM5, what motherboard should I grab? (55) * 17:04 by Greenslade How do i get rid of this choose which one?When there is nothing on Drive D? (2) * 16:57 by RJARRRPCGP How many write cycles can a solid-state drive endure? (62) * 16:53 by AVATARAT 9950X3D overheating, I can't find a solution after changing everything except the motherboard (198) * 16:42 by lambda 9070XT or 5070Ti for $140 more (5) * 16:35 by AVATARAT AMD RX 9070 XT & RX 9070 non-XT thread (OC, undervolt, benchmarks, ...) (186) * 16:12 by mechtech Do you use Linux? (890) * 16:12 by jaggerwild X79 and/or rampage IV OC'ing thread for those of us still left.... (2424) [_28909c70] Popular Reviews * Oct 17th, 2025 ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite Review * Oct 9th, 2025 Battlefield 6 Performance Benchmark Review - 40+ GPUs Tested * Oct 15th, 2025 Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 G60SD Review - A Matte Twist * Oct 16th, 2025 Dream Machines DM9 Skill Wireless Review * Oct 14th, 2025 OLOY Blade Performance RGB DDR5-6000 32 GB CL30 Review * Oct 13th, 2025 Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite Wi-Fi7 Review * Nov 6th, 2024 AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Review - The Best Gaming Processor * Oct 9th, 2025 Intel Panther Lake Technical Deep Dive * Oct 10th, 2025 ALLIWAVA H90Pro Review * Oct 17th, 2025 Valkyrie V360 LCD Review TPU on YouTube Controversial News Posts * Microsoft Blocks Online Account Bypass on Windows 11 (133) * Microsoft Releases Windows 11 25H2... With Zero New Features? ( 101) * Microsoft Breaks Localhost with Windows 11 October Update, Users Forced to Revert (99) * AMD Gains CPU Share as Intel Hits Record Low on Steam September Hardware Survey (94) * End of an Era: Windows 10 Officially Reaches End of Life (92) * Windows 11 25H2 October Update Bug Renders Recovery Environment Unusable (74) * OpenAI will Buy AMD GPUs, AMD Offers $30+ Billion in Stock to Sweeten the Deal (74) * March-April Release of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series SUPER Lineup, Possible CES Reveal (73) Copyright (c) 2004-2025 www.techpowerup.com. All rights reserved. All trademarks used are properties of their respective owners.