Windows 11 November Update Boot Loop - Cannot Uninstall latest feature/quality update to restore system

Question

I am having trouble with the Windows 11 November Update. I am receiving this error:

Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart.

Stop code: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (0x38).

What can I do? My system keeps crashing - At one point it booted and I was able to log in, and SM Edge came up with a message saying the updates were completed. The programs I had open before the update began to open and it crashed once more. It has been stuck in a boot loop ever since.

I thought that I could repair the Windows 11 program. I have attempted to remove the update that was installed last night, and both Feature Updates and Quality Updates report that the updates cannot be removed.

Reinstalling windows and losing all of my apps is not an option.

During one of the reboots, I received a message that it could not connect to the network and would try again with a timer. Under this message, it says there is a log file stored on drive E:. Why in the world is Windows trying to use drive E:\ when the system is installed on the OS dedicated C:\ SSD?

Thank you for any assistance.

Answer 1

Hi, thanks for posting here in Microsoft community, it looks like the recent Windows 11 update caused a boot loop and crashes with a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION error. Since uninstalling the update isn’t working and reinstalling isn’t an option, the best next step is to try Startup Repair or System Restore from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).

If those fail, you can use DISM and SFC commands via Command Prompt in WinRE to repair system files without wiping apps simply run this command, sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows and DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If available, use System Restore to roll back before the update.

Also, check if drive letters are mismatched in WinRE (sometimes recovery assigns different letters).

Let me know how it goes.

Chard

Answer 2

The commands should be entered separately, not as one line. Each command runs its own process,

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows

Then, after it completes,

DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If sfc fails immediately, it may indicate deeper corruption or incorrect drive mapping in WinRE. Double-check that C: is the correct OS partition in recovery mode.

Also, when you open Command Prompt in WinRE, does C: actually contain the Windows folder, or is it assigned a different letter? This will help confirm if the path is correct before running repairs.

Let me know how it goes.

Chard

Answer 3

Hi, WinRE runs from X:, not your actual OS drive. Your Windows installation is on another volume, but drive letters often change in recovery, also, DISM fails because the path you used doesn’t match the real Windows directory and the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0xA) error involving ntoskrnl.exe points to a deeper kernel or driver issue during recovery.

what you can try, Open Command Prompt in WinRE and type this two,

diskpart

list volume

This shows all volumes and their letters, then find the one with the Windows folder, also if needed, reassign,

select volume <number>

assign letter=C

then to exit, simply type exit then confirm dir C:\Windows , Once the correct letter is set type this,

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows

DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If DISM still fails, use an install.wim from your Windows media,

DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:D:\sources\install.wim /LimitAccess

I hope this helps you

Chard

Answer 4

Just resolved about four hours ago. No matter what I tried with the PC, Win11 & WinRE were unstable and would crash. I resorted to pulling the OS SSD, placing it in a USB enclosure, and connected it to my laptop to transfer my critical work files so I could perform a clean install on the desktop.

When I first connected the SSD, it took longer than it normally would for the drive to show up, but once it did, it worked fine. I transferred the files (took about four hours to transfer from USB to USB two terabytes of non-OS files).

Once that was complete, I reinstalled the drive in the desktop and when I powered on, it went straight into Windows. No recovery, no extra steps, it just worked. Windows was a bit sluggish at first, but it didn’t crash. I checked Win Update and the system was up to date. I rebooted to see if it would crash upon boot again and it went straight into Win11 no problem, and was not sluggish any longer. I was FINALLY able to run SFC scan now on the drive, and no errors were detected.

I can only surmise that when I connected the SSD to my laptop, my laptop ran some type of auto error correction on it to make the drive readable, which likely solved the corruption of the files, as I didn’t have to run ANYTHING to get the drive repaired after it connected to the laptop.