A couple of weeks prior to the release of monthly Patch Tuesday updates for supported versions of Windows, Microsoft typically rolls out preview versions of the operating system just so that interested users can get their hands on it early and test upcoming features and changes. The company released a preview update for Windows 11 version 22H2 recently in the form of KB5028254. It caused some issues in the OS which Microsoft has now addressed.
For starters, several users reported yesterday that after installing the update, the Start menu on Windows 11 broke. However, following an investigation, Microsoft has noted that this issue is only affecting users who have installed third-party apps to customize their Windows installation. More specifically, it says that users of ExplorerPatcher are impacted by this problem, but customers of other apps might be affected too. For those unaware, ExplorerPatcher is available on GitHub and aims to “enhance the working environment on Windows”.
Since this purely concerns Windows users who are leveraging “unsupported” ways to customize the OS, Microsoft has taken a hands-off approach and says that it won’t provide any workaround. Instead, it has asked users to either uninstall third-party apps prior to downloading KB5028254 or reach out to the developer to implement a fix. This problem affects users of Windows 11 version 22H2, particularly those who have installed the preview update for now. However, as the update becomes widely available next month, it could impact more customers.
Interestingly, this is not the only bug in this area when it comes to preview updates for Windows 11. Microsoft also highlighted a known issue with last month’s preview update KB5027303, apps – including webcams and cameras – leveraging the WVC1 codec (VC-1) to playback or record video might break. There isn’t a proper fix for this yet except going through Microsoft’s Known Issue Rollback (KIR) Windows servicing process where problematic updates are uninstalled automatically within 24 hours on consumer and non-managed business devices. If it doesn’t roll back for you, try restarting your device.
That said, Microsoft has noted that enterprise devices managed by their respective organizations need to implement this rollback mechanism by configuring a Group Policy. You can navigate to the Group Policy through Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates. Depending upon which version of Windows you are currently on, you would need to deploy either of the following Group Policy downloads:
The aforementioned versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 are the currently supported variants of Windows client SKUs, server installations are not affected. If you’re an IT admin who is not aware of the process behind deploying and configuring Group Policy downloads for KIR, you can refer to Microsoft’s handy guide here.
Issues in preview rollouts of Windows are expected, which is also why it makes sense for Microsoft to make them available early so that the company can gather valuable user feedback and resolve bugs ahead of a more general release through Patch Tuesday. While the Redmond tech firm is understandably taking no responsibility for the Start menu problem caused by third-party UI customization apps, it’s nice to see it taking initiative on the video codec problem across supported versions of Windows.
link