Microsoft Released An Emergency Windows Patch Over The Weekend, Get It Now

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Microsoft has swiftly deployed an emergency patch to address a critical issue that has been preventing some Windows 11 systems from properly installing the May 2025 security update (KB5058405). The problem, which primarily impacts enterprise environments, has been causing machines to enter recovery mode and fail to start, leading to significant disruption for businesses and IT departments.

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Recovery screen error. (Credit: Main-Apartment8743 via Bleeping Computer)

The core of the problem lies with Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2. Reports indicated that a subset of systems, particularly those operating within virtualized infrastructures such as Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Virtual Desktop, and on-premises virtual machines hosted on Citrix or Hyper-V, were most susceptible to the installation failures. Machines were shooting errors that displayed "Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. The operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors."

In response to the escalating reports and the potential for widespread operational impact, Microsoft rapidly developed and released the KB5062170 update (first spotted by our friends at Bleeping Computer). This non-security, out-of-band update is specifically designed to mitigate the installation and boot problems triggered by said May 2025 security rollout.

For Azure customers who had already encountered the issue and found their systems in a non-bootable state, Microsoft recommends utilizing Azure Virtual Machine repair commands as a workaround. This provides a crucial lifeline for immediate recovery while the broader solution gets deployed.

Looking ahead, Microsoft's official guidance for those who had not yet deployed the problematic May 2025 Windows security update is clear: prioritize the installation of the new out-of-band update (KB5062170) first. This preemptive measure is especially vital for environments heavily reliant on virtual desktop infrastructure running Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2, where the risk of encountering the installation bug was highest.

As if this incident hasn't been headache enough, the tech giant has been extra busy on the patching front recently, having also addressed a "latent code issue" that inadvertently triggered unintended Windows 11 upgrades and resolved a problem blocking Windows 11 24H2 feature updates via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). In May, Redmond had to roll out another OOB update to fix a Windows 10 forcing affected PCs into BitLocker recovery after installing May 2025 security updates.