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Problems with January 2026 updates to Windows

George S Gordon 20 Reputation points
2026-01-30T12:13:54.42+00:00

My problem with those updates on a Windows 11 Pro laptop, specifically KB5074109 and the out-of-band update KB5078127, was different from what I've seen reported elsewhere.

After KB5074109 was installed, the main symptom was that my Windows 11 Pro PC froze, usually a few minutes after signing in. What happened is that the screen still showed what was there before the freeze (i.e. no Black Screen of Death), and the only way to recover was to power off and try again. Uninstalling this update and then re-installing it seemed to lengthen the period before it froze, but in the course of doing this it became more obvious that both Restart and Shutdown were not working, so I had to Power Off and Power On.

The freeze was associated with all processes in Task Manager going to 0% CPU.

Windows Update then installed KB5078127, which was claimed to fix some issues with KB5074109, but it did not fix the freezing issue or the Restart/Shutdown problem.

Uninstalling via Windows Update did not allow me to dump both of those updates.

So yesterday I resorted to rolling back to a restore point just before the first update (KB5074109) was installed. This seems to have resolved the issues mentioned above, but I was only able to pause updates till 28 February, so I look forward to the resumption of those disastrous issues unless Microsoft fixes this.

I see elsewhere that Microsoft is claiming the issue affects users who didn't install the December update (KB5072033) – this is definitely not the case for me!

The Microsoft page on Windows 11, version 25H2 update history shows another out-of-band update for January 2026, KB5077744 , which is presumably relevant here since it appears between KB5074109 and KB5078127.

KB5077744 did not appear in Windows Update for me – could that be the cause of my problem?

If so, how can I resolve the issue?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Windows update
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  1. Virginia M 39,620 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-01-30T13:34:23.54+00:00

    Hello, I’m Virginia a fellow Windows user.

    Yes the Jan cumulative update is causing many problems, there is an out of band update released recently which is supposed to fix some of the problems.

    You’ll need to do this via the Microsoft update catalogue though:

    https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB5077744

  2. George S Gordon 20 Reputation points
    2026-01-31T12:36:23.4766667+00:00

    I may try your suggestions, but this seems so unnecessary.

    Also, installing the first in the series (KB5074109) left my PC in a state where restart fails every time, I had to power it off and on again. So it's unclear to me whether further updates would work correctly given they depend on a successful restart.

    Given the multiple issues caused by the January updates, Microsoft should cut their (our!) losses and issue a new update which uninstalls whichever of those updates have been done and then installs a totally new update which omits all the errors committed in January.

  3. Richard Tremblay 5 Reputation points
    2026-02-02T18:58:38.27+00:00

    Good day, Microsoft should fire the CEO, these problems are getting worst.

    By the way, STOP USING AI for CODING, it does'nt work

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