Microsoft Pulls Recent Windows 11 Update After Installation Meltdown

This week, Microsoft released a new Windows 11 preview build, dubbed KB5079391, but it's also had to pause the rollout due to an installation error with a currently-unknown cause and fix. It's a shame, since KB5079391 does incorporate a lot of desirable features and fixes for a variety of Windows 11 issues. These include improved Application Control for Business, Windows Recovery Environment improvements for Windows on ARM, a fix to the Windows Update Standalone Installer caused by double-clicking .msu files, and much more. Those are just the "Normal rollout" features.

"Gradual rollout" features include Narrator image descriptions from Copilot+ PCs being ported with Copilot on all Windows 11 PCs, Smart App Control now being configurable without needing a clean install, and even improvements to Microsoft Account management including easy 365 upgrades and UI overhauls. There's also customizable Pen tail button options, UI improvements to Settings/About pages, and improvements to File Explorer including easier unblocking of downloaded files. The 1000 Hz display support has been further improved too, now having no known upper refresh limit. Other improvements include better USB4 power management and improved HDR reliability on non-complaint DisplayID 2.0 blocks.


The total sum of fixes and improvements for this Preview Update is fairly large.  Printing support has even been reverted to Windows 10 version 1607 and Windows Server 2016 version 14393, apparently because Windows 10's printer support was better than Windows 11' is now. Unfortunately, the current issues with the Preview Update also reinforce the long-held wisdom that the majority of Windows users are typically better off staying on the stable branch if they don't want to deal with unexpected issues. Fortunately, the worst error just seems to be a failed installation, rather than BSODs or system bricking, but still—one can't shake the impression that Microsoft could be doing a bit more QA work on with these things before releasing them into the wild.

That said, Microsoft has a lot to prove with Windows 11 this year, and the intent behind this update seems like a step in the right direction.